India-Russia ties back on track: Russian envoy
By IANSMonday, December 14, 2009
NEW DELHI - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s recent summit with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow has injected “a new freshness” into India-Russia relations which are now “back on a very solid track,” the Russian envoy said here Monday.
A new freshness has been infused into the India-Russia relationship, Russian Ambassador Alexander Kadakin told reporters here.
The first snowfall of the season took place in Moscow when the two leaders were having intense discussions inside the Kremlin, said the envoy, who is equally at ease conversing in Hindi. “Snow is a good omen,” he said.
The net result of the Moscow summit exceeded our expectations, said the envoy while describing the umbrella civil nuclear agreement signed between the two sides as “the number one outcome of the summit.”
The “pioneering nuclear agreement” will be formalised when Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin visits India in March next year, the envoy said.
“Nothing has changed. One thing that has not changed is the India-Russia strategic partnership. It is true, solid and real as ever,” said Kadakin, whose earlier ambassadorial tenure in India (1999-2004) saw the forging of the strategic partnership between the two countries.
Six accords, including a civil nuclear cooperation pact, rated as better than the 123 India-US atomic pact, and three defence agreements, were signed during Manmohan Singh’s Dec 6-8 visit to Moscow that took time-tested ties to a new level, assuaging worries among some quarters in Moscow about India’s alleged pro-US tilt after the 2005 nuclear deal.
