Indian, Russia Leaders Meet

10/05/2001| IslamWeb

MOSCOW (Islamweb & News Agencies) - The Russian and Indian leaders met in the Kremlin Tuesday for talks on subjects ranging from the fight against international terrorism to construction of a Russian nuclear power plant in India.``In India there is a political consensus on a special relationship with Russia,'' Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said during talks with President Vladimir Putin.
Russia was the first stop of Vajpayee's 10-day world tour that includes official visits to the United States and Britain. Russian officials said they hoped the Kremlin talks would consolidate the ``strategic partnership'' between the two countries building on decades of Soviet-Indian friendship.
Russia and India both oppose the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and support the U.S.-led war against Afghanistan designed to uproot the al-Qaida terrorist network led by Osama bin Laden.
The leaders signed a declaration vowing to struggle against terrorism and agreed that a post-Taliban government in Afghanistan should represent all political and ethnic views, excluding the Taliban as an organization.
Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov, who attended the talks, told reporters that India confirmed its intention to buy the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier and the contract would be finalized this fall. The ITAR-Tass news agency reported the deal would be worth about 2 billion and include two squadrons of carrier-based MiG-29 fighter jets.
After the Putin-Vajpayee talks, officials signed a preliminary agreement on Russia building the Kudunkulam nuclear power plant in India's southern Tamil Nadu state, with two 1,000-megawatt reactors. Klebanov said the 2.6 billion contract could be signed before the year's end.