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Indo-Russian pact to extend military-technical cooperation till 2012

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

The Indo-Russian defence agreement, to be signed by Russian President Boris Yeltsin during his New Delhi visit later this year, would extent co-operation till 2012, senior officials at South Block indicated.

During a press conference at the Moscow House of Journalists on Wednesday, Indian ambassador to Moscow Ranen Sen said that Yeltsin was likely to sign the extension.

Asked about the contents of the strategic partnership, South Block officials refused to elaborate, merely saying, "Things are being worked out."

They pointed out that during his visit to Russia in October 1997, former defence minister of the United Front government, Mulayam Singh Yadav, had broached the topic of strategic partnership. Thereafter, the two countries have been reaffirming their intention to have such a partnership. It was stressed that military-technical co-operation is the backbone of IIndo-Russian bilateral relations.

India is the biggest buyer of Russian military hardware, and the only country with which Russia has long-term military-technical co-operation worth more than $ 10 billion.

President Yeltsin's visit assumes added significance in the light of the US sanctions against India following New Delhi's Pokharan II tests. In recent days, the Clinton administration has resorted to expelling Indian scientists working in the US under the flimsy pretext that they are helping India manufacture missile and fine-bone its nuclear weapons.

Since Russia is a nuclear power state, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and a member of the G-8 countries, it exerts influence among the other nuclear power states led by the US, all of which appear to be victimising India for its tests.

Asked to pinpoint the single largest achievement in Indo-Russian relations, the officials underscored that despite the differences between Moscow and New Delhi on the nuclear strategic issues, the multifarious bilateral ties had strengthened. It was stressed that even as Indo-Russian ties are improving, Moscow highly valued its position as the second largest nuclear power in the world. It stands with the West in the attempt to keep the nuclear club small and exclusive.

India also values Yeltsin's visit because, during his earlier visit in 1993, he had openly sided with New Delhi on Kashmir, underling that 'the truth lay with the Indian side.'

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