Russia happy with resumption of work at Koodankulam

Russia on Saturday expressed happiness at the resumption of work at the Koodankulam nuclear project and hoped that more units will come with its participation.

This was conveyed by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin during his meeting with External Affairs Minister S M Krishna.

"Yes, we did talk about Kudankulam and they were quite satisfied with the resumption of work.

"The minister conveyed in so many terms that the engineers and technicians are back on the site and they hope that they would be able to complete it on time and they are also looking forward to the other units coming up," Krishna said.

Referring to a series of problems at the power plant site, official sources said India conveyed that federal nature demands that state governments are taken into confidence on several issues.

The two leaders also discussed the 2G verdict and the delivery schedule of aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov.

Asked about the Supreme Court's 2G verdict, Krishna said Sistema was one of the issues which was aired during the meeting.

Sistema has stakes in MTS in India which is one of the operators whose 2G licences have been cancelled by the apex court.

"I conveyed to them that government of India has already moved in this matter by approving a Presidential Reference to the Supreme Court. So a larger bench, a Constitutional bench will hopefully look into this question," he said.

Meanwhile, sources said Russia conveyed that INS Vikramaditya (Admiral Gorshkov) will be delivered by the end of this year.

On India's support for candidate for the post of World Bank president, Krishna said New Delhi will not decide its support in terms of nation.

"India is going to support the best man who has the necessary qualifications to head the world body," he said.

Krishna added that the nodal ministry -- the finance ministry, in consultations with others who matter, will take a call on the issue.

Rogozin, who has just taken over, will co-chair the India-Russia inter-governmental commission with Krishna.

This was the first meeting between the two in which Krishna invited him to visit India which Rogozin accepted.