NEW DELHI: India and Russia are likely to restore the lost sheen of the ties through nuclear reactors and sparkles of diamonds, with fresh contracts in the pipelines for construction of two new units of Kudankulam nuclear reactors and Moscow helping New Delhi in extracting diamonds from its biggest mine.
The two countries had failed to seal the contract for the 5th and 6th units of the nuclear reactor when Russian President Vladimir Putin had come to India last year to attend the BRICS Summit in Goa. However, the deal is nearing fruition and the two countries would be signing the deal soon.
“We will soon be concluded the pacts for the 5th and 6th units of the nuclear power plant,” Charge d’ Affaires of Embassy of the Russian Federation Anatoly V. Kargapolov told the Express on the sidelines of an event here organised to take stock of the India-Russia Partnership as their bilateral diplomatic relations enter 70th year.
The first two reactors of the Kudankulam project have started functioning while the excavation works for 3rd and 4th are in progress at the moment.
The other important field of cooperation between the two countries is the diamond industry. Russia is the largest diamond producer in the world with 27% of global extraction, while India is the leader in cutting diamonds with 65% of the trade. A strong impetus in this sector was given by the recent visit of Deputy Chairman of the Russian Government Yury Trutnev to India in March. “Following his negotiations with the Bharat Diamonds Bourse it was agreed to set up an Indian-Russian joint venture to extract diamonds at India’s largest discovered mine, which contains 34 million carats (worth 3.5 billion USD). Companies from the Bharat Diamonds Bourse are ready to invest 500 million USD in the joint venture,” Kargapolov further added.
The KGK Group of India is to open a diamond-cutting enterprise in the Vladivostok Free Port zone.
India and Russia, who have often been known as best of friends in the field of defence cooperation, have witnessed some strains in their ties in recent times. Hence the two countries are exploring new vistas for deepening the partnership.