Indian and Russia are set to ink six agreements, including one on the transfer of sentenced persons and on science and technology.
India and Russia set to ink six agreements
Moscow: Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on Sunday arrived on a two-day official visit to Russia to a red carpet ceremonial welcome.
The prime minister’s special aircraft touched down at Vnukovo International airport here amid a cloudy day with the temperature at 5 degrees Celsius, but bitterly cold.
He was received by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov.
Both sides are set to ink six agreements, including one on the transfer of sentenced persons and on science and technology, during their annual summit on Monday.
Earlier, before leaving on the visit, the prime minister had described the annual summit he would hold with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday as an “important feature of our special and privileged strategic partnership”.
He said India’s scope of ties with Russia is “unique, encompassing strong and growing cooperation in areas such as defence, nuclear energy, science and technology, hydrocarbons, trade and investment and people to people exchanges”.
He said he would convey to President Putin “the importance we attach to our relations with Russia, and I will use this visit to strengthen our partnership in every possible way”.
Despite the high expectations ahead of the visit, India and Russia are not to ink the commercial agreement on the third and fourth reactors for Kudankulam.
The two leaders are set to go over the main pillars of the bilateral strategic partnership, including defence, energy, space, science and technology, economy.
Singh would be conferred an honorary doctorate by Moscow State Institute of International Relations, which he said is a “testimony of the relations between our two countries”.
Meanwhile, India said on Sunday it would assess the situation arising out of a sharp increase in ceasefire violations by Pakistan on the border in Jammu and Kashmir as it develops and leave it for the time being to the two directors general of military operations who have been tasked to restore peace.
“The DGMOs are in touch and they have spoken to each other.. It is for them to find a way, they have been tasked to do this,” an informed source said.
The source said that the DGMOs, who speak on the hotline installed between the two capitals every Tuesday, have spoken but not met as yet.
During the September 29 New York meeting between Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif, both sides had agreed to have their DGMOs meet regularly in order to maintain peace on the Line of Control.
The year has seen several violations of the 2003 ceasefire, including the beheading of an Indian soldier and the killing of five soldiers, which provoked widespread anger in India.
“Let’s give them [DGMOs] a chance,” said the source.
“We’ll assess the situation as it develops and see whether there is seriousness or not on the Pakistani side to restore the ceasefire and respect it. It is too early to say.. Let the DGMOs talk to each other and see if they can do it .. It is too early to draw conclusions,” the source added.
The source said that the increased ceasefire violations could be linked to “infiltration attempts”.
“Many of the ceasefire violations are linked to infiltration attempts. This is the time of the year when a lot of infiltration happens.. before the snows, this happens.”
“Let’s analyse how the pattern differs this time. There is certainly an increase over last year. We’ll see the pattern and draw conclusions,” the source said.
Two Border Security Force personnel were injured on Friday when Pakistani troops opened fire at 10 border out posts and civilian areas along the International Border in Jammu and Samba districts.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said Saturday that the central government needs to take up the issue of ceasefire violations with Pakistan in a “strong manner” as it was getting “more serious” now.
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