Amid worldwide alarm over a radiation scare in Japan following the tsunami, India and other nations from the Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa group on Thursday pressed for strict adherence to safety norms with regard to nuclear facilities and a proposal was floated for mutual assistance in similar incidents.
Security issues in the restive Af-Pak region and an effective strategy to combat global terrorism and drug-trafficking top the agenda of a key quadrilateral summit to be hosted by President Dmitry Medvedev in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi on Wednesday.
A Black Widow linked to Russia's restive Northern Caucasus region could be behind the deadly suicide attack that rocked Moscow's international airport on Monday. A day after the explosion killed 35 people, including two Britons, a German and a Bulgarian, and injured 178 others at the Domodedovo International Airport, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev slammed the airport management for security failures."The management of Domodedovo Airport should be held responsible," he said
"The Russian and US presidents will direct their respective delegations to speed up talks on a new arms control agreement," a Kremlin release issued late on Wednesday said after telephonic conversation of the leaders of world's largest nuclear stockpiles holders.
India would neither succumb to the Americans on issues of national security, such as its defence ties with Russia, nor cede ground on its domestic interests in the agriculture and dairy sectors.
India and Russia may have last year elevated their strategic partnership to "special and privileged status," but there seems no evidence of private enterprise in both countries following in the footsteps laid down by their respective governments.
A joint declaration adopted at the end of the summit talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Russia supported India's full membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
After protracted re-negotiations, India and Russia have ended the stalemate over contentious price and technical issues for the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier which had become an irritant in bilateral ties.
India on Monday signed a path-breaking broad-based agreement in the civil nuclear field with Russia, which will ensure transfer of technology and uninterrupted uranium fuel supplies to its nuclear reactors, and inked three pacts in the defence sector. The agreements were signed after talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev at the Kremlin in Moscow, during which they discussed a whole range of issues.
A passenger plane carrying a Russian ice hockey team to a season-opening match crashed after takeoff from a provincial airport on Wednesday, killing 43 people and leaving two survivors in grave condition.
A suspected suicide bomber triggered explosives at Moscow's busiest international airport on Monday killing at least 35 people and leaving 130 injured, in the first major terror attack in less than a year.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived in Brazil on Thursday on a two-day visit during which he will attend the Brazil-Russia-India-China (BRIC) and India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) Summits and hold bilateral meetings with Chinese President Hu Jintao and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
Russia has described its bilateral ties with India as a "weighty" factor of global stability and security as Moscow underlined the need to deepen the "privileged strategic partnership".
Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon said in New Delhi that, "Both India and Russia are keen to expand nuclear cooperation. All the preparatory work has been done." He was inaugurating an international conference on "Changing Patterns of Indo-Russian Cooperation" organised by the Observer Research Foundation. He said that India and Russia already have an "excellent relationship" and India considers relations with Russia very important.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh left Moscow for home on Saturday after concluding a three-day visit during which he attended the 12th annual Indo-Russian summit and witnessed the inking of five agreements, including one for technical assistance in joint production of 42 more frontline Sukhoi-MKI 30 jets. Dr Singh, who held talks with President Dmitry Medvedev, cleared the uncertainty over the Kudankulam nuclear power project on Friday.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to sign a number of key bilateral pacts including in the field civil nuclear energy during his visit here next month.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday said 'existing instrumentalities' should be invoked to put pressure on countries that continue to encourage terrorist activities, a veiled reference to the need for focused strategies to combat terrorism emanating from Pakistan.
Terming India a 'deserving candidate,' Russia on Monday backed its claim for a permanent membership in an expanded United Nations Security Council reflecting present-day realities.
India and Russia will take new steps to reinvent their strategic partnership when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh meets Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in the Kremlin on December 7, with a civil nuclear cooperation agreement and an extended defence cooperation pact, expected to be the highlight of the meeting.
India and Russia will sign a framework agreement in civil nuclear field and three pacts in defence sector during the three-day visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh beginning on Sunday.
External Affairs Minister S M Krishna on Thursday said the "time-tested" relationship with Russia will remain India's top foreign policy priority as he held wide-ranging parleys on bilateral and international issues, including Afghanistan, with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow.
Delhi held out "veiled threats' to China over visa issue.
The MoU was signed during the India visit of Russian President, Dmitri Medvedev, a press release issued here today stated. Russian World Studios is one of the largest private film companies in the Russian market and has produced several projects, both for TV and the big screen.
Attracted by the boom in the automobile sector, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has formed a joint venture with Russia's biggest petrochemical company, SIBUR, to jointly invest $450 million (Rs 2.040 crore) to set up a 100,000-tonne butyl rubber factory, said a company release. RIL will have majority stake.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh fted Russian President Dmitry Medvedev over lunch at home on Tuesday, but before that a bagful of agreements were signed at Hyderabad House in the capital, as well as on the margins of the summit, signalling that the suspicion and mutual agreement, which has been a key feature of the recent past, now truly belonged there.
Freshly painted in grey, the huge but sleek vessel proudly displaying its new name Vikramaditya in Hindi and English was shown by NTV channel carefully being propelled into the wet dock of the Severodvinsk-based Sevmash Shipyard, where the refit will be continued pending the final price negotiations.
India and Russia are expected to sign a nuclear deal for the construction of four additional reactors at the Kudankulam nuclear power plant and expansion of other sites during Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's three-day visit to New Delhi beginning Thursday, a top official has said."We plan to sign on Friday an inter-governmental agreement with India to build another four reactors for the Kudankulam nuclear power plant, and envisaging cooperation," said a Russian official.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday briefed his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on the Indo-US nuclear deal and raised the issues of delay in the delivery of Gorshkov aircraft carrier.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday cleared the uncertainty over the start of Kudankulam nuclear project declaring that the first unit will be operationalised in a couple of weeks but India and Russia did not sign any agreement for the third and fourth units of the plant.
United States President Barack Obama is said to have offered a "deal" to Russia, suggesting America would not deploy a missile defence system in eastern Europe if Moscow stops helping Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh returned to New Delhi on Tuesday after a three-day visit to Russia, during which the two sides signed a path-breaking civil nuclear agreement and three defence pacts. Dr Singh had met Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Monday and discussed a wide range of issues, including terrorism. On Monday, the two sides signed a path-breaking civil nuclear agreement that will guarantee uninterrupted uranium fuel supplies.
As he prepared to meet President Dmitry Medvedev for the annual summit-level talks, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said defence cooperation has been a "very important aspect" in Indo-Russian ties.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday left for a three-day visit to Russia during which the two sides are expected to sign a framework agreement on civil nuclear cooperation and three pacts in the field of defence.Dr Singh, who will be undertaking his sixth visit to Russia since 2004, said he will also meet Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, under whose presidency the annual dialogue was set up.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said that modernisation process of the 44,570-ton aircraft carrier will be completed as soon as possible so that it can be delivered to India in 2012.
Five people have been arrested in St Petersberg in Russia in connection with the murder of an Indian medical student, who was stabbed to death in 2006.
India and Russia today signed an agreement on civil nuclear cooperation with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh describing it as a "new milestone" in bilateral relations.
Identifying development of friendly ties with India and China as the "most important direction" of its foreign policy in Asia, Russia on Tuesday said it will further consolidate dialogue with these countries in a trilateral format as an element of the multi-polar world order.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday wound up a three-day visit to Russia, during which the two sides signed a path-breaking civil nuclear agreement and three defence pacts.
Seeking to take forward thestrategic partnership to new heights, Prime Minister ManmohanSingh today made it clear that India's relations with thirdcountries will never be at the cost of "time-tested ties" withRussia.
Medvedev, who will be the youngest elected Head of the nation in Russian history, is expected to continue the policy of developing strategic ties with India with focus shifting to economy. Medvedev represents a new generation of post-Soviet politicians, but his election ensures that Putin, who is not eligible to return to office after serving two successive terms as president, continues to wield power in the Kremlin.
