India, Russia may ink nuclear energy pact: Uday Bhaskar

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Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is making a two-day visit to India starting Friday. The petroleum ministry is ready to welcome the Russian delegation with a long wishlist. The agenda is likely to revolve around nuclear energy and defence contracts.

Russia is expected to sign deals worth over USD 10 billion with India during the visit of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Friday. The deals would range from contracts for the joint design of a fifth generation fighter jet and production of multi-purpose transport planes, to agreements to supply Russian mineral fertilisers and build new nuclear reactors. India is keen to sign an MoU with Russia for hydrocarbon exploration.

In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Defence Analyst, C Uday Bhaskar gave his perspective on the significance of the Russian Prime Minister's visit.

Here is a verbatim transcript of the interview. Also watch the accompanying video.

Q: How significant is Putin's visit from a strategic standpoint? Is this visit largely going to address unresolved issues on defence contracts?

A: I would characterise this visit as a very significant one for two reasons. One is that, Moscow, both as the capital of the former Soviet Union and now of Russia has been a very abiding and consistent partner of India for the last 50 years. So to that extent to maintain this high level political contact at a time when both India and Russia individually, regionally and both at a bilateral and global level have a number of issues where they have to consult.

I believe that both the regions in the world are going through a very complex transition and therefore India and Russia need to consult. Therefore this is a big picture as far as this is concerned.

As far as the more immediate specific issues on the agenda, I think it is important for India and Russia to review and reset some of the issues that need to be advanced as part of the bilateral. There are a number of wrinkles and in summary I would say that today India and Russia, the most robust and the most visible component is the defence and the military supply relationship and the kind of cooperation we have in strategic technologies.

In both cases I think there is a certain degree of dissatisfaction and some concerns both in Moscow and in Delhi. I think it is appropriate that these are addressed at a political level and Mr. Putin himself has a very critical status in the entire Russia.

Though he is not the President, which he was earlier, I think he is a person who can make a difference. Therefore I would say this is a very important visit.