Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08NEWDELHI3114
2008-12-10 12:52:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy New Delhi
Cable title:  

PRESIDENT MEDVEDEV INDIA VISIT CONFIRMS CIV-NUKE

Tags:  PREL PGOV KNUC KNNP ECON TSPA RS IN 
pdf how-to read a cable
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RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 7223
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 NEW DELHI 003114 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/08/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV KNUC KNNP ECON TSPA RS IN
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT MEDVEDEV INDIA VISIT CONFIRMS CIV-NUKE
ASSISTANCE, CONTINUED DEFENSE COOPERATION, WARM TIES

REF: NEW DELHI 2764

Classified By: Political Minister-Counselor Ted Osius for Reasons 1.4 (
B, D)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 NEW DELHI 003114

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/08/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV KNUC KNNP ECON TSPA RS IN
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT MEDVEDEV INDIA VISIT CONFIRMS CIV-NUKE
ASSISTANCE, CONTINUED DEFENSE COOPERATION, WARM TIES

REF: NEW DELHI 2764

Classified By: Political Minister-Counselor Ted Osius for Reasons 1.4 (
B, D)


1. (C) Summary. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev capped
off a 24 hour visit to India by delivering as promised on
agreements for civil nuclear, space and defense cooperation.
Medvedev expressed Russia's solidarity with India in the war
on terror in the wake of the Mumbai attacks, reiterating a
commitment to strengthen international cooperation to combat
terrorism. Both sides called for greater Indo-Russian
interaction in a host of regional organizations, including
the Russia-China-India trilateral dialogue, the ASEAN
Regional Forum, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and
the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) format. Repeating
past statements, the two sides called for the Iranian nuclear
issue to be settled through dialogue and negotiation,
agreeing that Iran has the right to develop nuclear energy
for peaceful purposes. Medvedev's visit was part of a series
of scheduled annual summits, this time to close the "Year of
Russia in India." End Summary.

-------------- Reassurance of a long-standing friendship --------------


2. (C) President Medvedev arrived in India late on December 4
for what was billed as a three-day visit but essentially
contained one full working day, cut short when Medvedev
departed on the evening of December 5 to return to Moscow for
memorial services for Russian Orthodox Church patriarch Alexi
II. The visit was part of the ongoing annual India-Russia
summits, and marked the official closure of "The Year of
Russia in India," which included over 150 seminars, meetings
and cultural events in India. Russian Embassy Political
Counselor Valery Khodzaev told Poloff the visit had "exceeded
expectations," although in Post's view the "deliverables" of
Medvedev's visit were items already agreed to and generally
available to the public, and/or reaffirmations of past
positions. (Reftel, a readout of Foreign Minister Lavrov's

visit to India on October 20, previewed all of the major
deliverables from the Medvedev visit.) Hardnews editor
Sanjay Kapoor opined to Poloff that Medvedev's visit was
essentially pro forma in substance, however it provided both
country's leaders with a tangible reference for reassuring
their publics that relations between the two old friends
remain strong, despite appearances that they may be slipping.
"India and Russia have been looking for a way to reassure
each other that their long-standing friendship is still
there," Kapoor said.

-------------- Civ-Nuke cooperation gains headlines --------------


3. (C) Pro forma or not, Medvedev was able to gain coverage
in Delhi -- no small task given the Indian public's attention
to the aftermath of the November 26-28 terror attacks in
Mumbai -- with several announcements, most prominently an
agreement confirming cooperation to construct four new (in
addition to the two existing) nuclear power plant units at
the Kudankulam site in Tamil Nadu. Khodzaev denied press
reports that India and Russia also discussed an additional
two nuclear plants (which would bring the total to eight),
pointing out that it took eight years to get the first two
plants operational, while also noting that Russia had a
backlog for building nuclear plants due to orders from
Bulgaria, China and elsewhere. He added that the first of
the four new plants could be commissioned as early as the end
of 2008.

-------------- Space cooperation in manned flight, satellites --------------


4. (C) Also making news, in addition to the civ-nuke
agreement, India and Russia signed a Memorandum of
Understanding for joint activities in the field of space.
Khodzaev described the space discussions as having two parts:
one which aims to have Russia send an Indian cosmonaut into
space (press reported as early as 2013),then assist in
launching a manned Indian spacecraft in 2015; the other a
generalized commitment to cooperate on the Russian Global
Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS). Prime Minister Singh
stated that this space agreement signaled a new milestone in

NEW DELHI 00003114 002 OF 004


the two countries' history of cooperation in the field.

-------------- Defense cooperation to move ahead; 80 helicopters sold
--------------


5. (C) With the defense relationship under criticism in
recent months as Russia's reliability as a supplier has come
to be questioned at the same time as competition for the
Indian market has heated up, the two sides went to great
lengths to highlight their desire for greater overall defense
cooperation. Prior to the visit, President Medvedev said
that he wished to transform the Indo-Russian relationship
from one of "buyer-seller" to one of partnership, and during
the visit Prime Minister Singh emphasized that the two sides
would increasingly focus on joint production and research and
development. Khodzaev reported that the atmospherics
surrounding defense cooperation talks were positive despite
the recent misunderstandings, with the Indians signaling they
wished to resolve disagreements for mutual benefit. Despite
the emphasis on equal partnership, the defense-related
deliverable of the visit was the announcement of a straight
sale, a $1.2 billion contract for 80 Mi-17V-5 helicopters.
The medium-lift utility helicopters are scheduled to arrive
in India between 2010 and 2014, and include an offset
obligation to the Russians of over $400 million.

-------------- A push for regional cooperation, particularly on
Afghanistan --------------


6. (C) Regional architecture and greater Indo-Russian
cooperation in existing fora were the focus of several
paragraphs in the joint statement, reflecting what Khodzaev
described as one of the longer discussion topics during
meetings. Medvedev put particular emphasis on the Shanghai
Cooperation Organization (SCO),urging India to use its
observer status to become more involved in regional issues.
Specifically, Medvedev pushed India to support a Russian
initiative for a special conference on Afghanistan to include
SCO member states and observers in early 2009. The
conference would have two main areas of focus, according to
Khodzaev. First would be to form a "security belt" around
Afghanistan with neighboring countries committing to fight
against drug trafficking, criminal activities, contraband and
other trans-border security threats. The second "belt" would
be cutting off financial support for terrorists and criminals
in and surrounding Afghanistan, by having neighboring
countries and the international community cooperate better on
preventing financial networks from being used. Medvedev also
pressed for India to be represented at the next SCO summit at
the Prime Minister level -- which it has never done before --
and while there was no commitment from PM Singh, there were
"positive signals," according to Khodzaev. (Note:
India-Central Asia Foundation Director and Russia expert Dr.
Nirmala Joshi told Poloffs she doesn't believe India will
participate in the SCO at the Prime Minister level next year
or for the foreseeable future, as long as India's observer
status equals second class status in the group. End note.)


7. (C) Both sides noted their satisfaction with cooperation
in the Russia-China-India trilateral dialogue as well as the
BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) format. Calling BRIC a
"promising cooperation mechanism of the four most dynamically
developing large economies of the world," the joint
declaration called for the G-8 to further cooperate with
major emerging economies to "establish an advanced mechanism
of collective leadership in world affairs." The declaration
also called for strengthening the centril role of the United
Nations in establishing a multipolar world order, while
declaring the two countries' intentions to enhance
collaboration in the ASEAN Regional Forum and the Asia
Cooperation Dialogue. India also offered its support for
Russia to join the Asia-Europe Meeting and the East Asia
Summit. Khodzaev noted that one of the few areas of dispute
in drafting the joint declaration came over the question of
United Nations reform, particularly the issue of Security
Council, where India pushed for an explicit vote of support
for its permanent membership, while Russia maintained its
view that India is a strong candidate, however the specifics
of membership will need to be decided by the widest possible
consensus in the General Assembly.

NEW DELHI 00003114 003 OF 004



-------------- Looking for $10 billion in annual trade --------------


8. (C) The Russians pressed for increased economic ties,
specifically looking for strategies and mechanisms to achieve
the previously agreed upon goal of reaching $10 billion in
annual bilateral trade. A large delegation of Russian
private businesspeople were in Delhi to complement Medvedev's
visit, and the two sides approved a mechanism to begin
implementing the Indo-Russian equivalent of the Indo-U.S. CEO
Forum. Russia has greatly diversified its trade with India
since the fall of the Soviet Union, Khodzaev explained, and
India has signaled a desire to expand trade in all
directions. India paid special attention to Russia's energy
reserves, and Khodzaev said the talks included the
possibility of Indian involvement in a Sakhalin III oil/gas
project. He noted that Russia expect the 2008 bilateral
trade figure to be right around $7 billion.

-------------- Solidarity following Mumbai terror attacks --------------


9. (C) While not widely reported in the Indian media,
Khodzaev told Poloff that the terrorist attack in Mumbai and
the fallout for India-Pakistan relations were also a major
topic. Citing a common threat by terrorists with links to
Pakistan, and noting that militants active in the Caucasus
have ties to Al-Qaeda and other foreign groups, Medvedev
declared Russian solidarity with India in the war on terror
in the wake of the November 26-28 terrorist siege of Mumbai.
Medvedev told PM Singh that Russia stands ready for
cooperation in all areas with a view to preventing all such
acts of terrorism, investigating the recent attack, and
establishing a global system of protection against terrorism.
He also told the Prime Minister that Russia wants to support
the part of Pakistan which supports better bilateral
relations between India and Pakistan. Khodzaev said that he
was not aware of any calls made by Medvedev to Pakistani
leadership during the visit or anytime prior to the visit.
He added that Russia intends to talk more specifically about
what kind of counter-terrorism assistance it could offer
during the two countries' annual C/T working group scheduled
to take place in late December.

-------------- Reiterating their call for dialogue and negotiation on
Iran --------------


10. (C) Turning to Iran, the two sides announced through
their joint declaration that they support Iran's right to
develop and use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, and
called on the Iranian nuclear issue to be resolved through
dialogue and negotiation. They did call on Tehran to conform
with relevant UN Security Council resolutions to restore the
trust of the international community.

-------------- Agreements signal end of "Year of Russia in India"
--------------


11. (C) In all, the two sides signed a total of ten
agreements during the visit, ranging from the civ-nuke plans,
space cooperation and helicopter sales described above, to
ones describing the protocol for an intern-governmental
commission on trade cooperation, an action plan for
cooperation in the field of tourism, and a memorandum of
understanding helping to establish an equivalent of the
U.S.-India CEO Forum. (Note: the full list of agreements and
full text of the joint declaration can be found at the
Ministry of External Affairs website: meaindia.nic.in. End
Note.) In addition to being part of the annual, scheduled
Indo-Russia summit meetings, this visit by Medvedev brought a
ceremonial close to the "Year of Russia in India," and opens
the way for the "Year of India in Russia" in 2009.

-------------- Comment: Not much there there, but still good friends
--------------


12. (C) Comment. While not much resulted from the visit, its
ceremonial and public aspects suggested continuing nostalgia
for a time when India-Russia relations had both warmth and
substance. The timing of the visit certainly worked in
Russia's favor -- Medvedev was the first foreign head of

NEW DELHI 00003114 004 OF 004


government to visit India following the Mumbai terror
attacks, a fact that was noted by Indian media -- but Post
suspects both sides were able to call the visit a success for
the reason Sanjay Kapoor gave: that
India and Russia were eager to have something concrete to
point to which could show the friendship remains strong,
despite appearances to the contrary. Post expects
India-Russia relations will remain friendly, not only because
India's independent foreign policy (read: not too close to
the U.S.) and geostrategic position necessitate good working
relations with Russia, but also because India
appreciates Russia's friendship, even if the two friends seem
to have outgrown the relationship. But if "The Year of
Russia in India" could only produce a civ-nuke deal (which
piggybacked on the U.S.-India deal and followed that of
France-India),the sale of 80 helicopters (while an aircraft
carrier deal continues to sour with a $2 billion cost overrun
and lingering "minor problems" threaten to scuttle a deal to
lease an Akula-II class nuclear submarine),and some promises
for closer cooperation in other areas such as tourism, then
it's an underwhelming year.
MULFORD