India is reliable, time-tested partner: Putin

In an interview to Economic Times, Putin ahead of his visit said: "Serious preparatory work has been done during the past sessions of the Inter-Governmental Commission and the Indo-Russian Forum on Trade and Investment. Joint strategic projects include the construction of new units for Indian nuclear power plants, promotion of Russian Sukhoi Superjet-100 and MS-21 aircraft to the Indian market, introduction of the GLONASS system in the sectors of the Indian economy."

"Our priorities include building a butyl rubber plant, helicopter manufacturing, creating “a smart city“ on the basis of Russian technologies and organising assembly of industrial tractors," he told India's leading business daily in an email interview.

Asked if  Indo-Russian defence ties can get back their past strength, Putin said: "We attach particular importance to the development of military and technical cooperation, which is one of the main components of our strategic partnership."

"We will discuss in detail the current projects in this most important sphere related not only to the export of ready-made equipment but to close technological and industrial cooperation as well. We already have examples of such effective cooperation, such as the production of up-to-date BrahMos missiles and multifunctional fifth generation fighter aircraft"

Putin said India and Russia have been maintaining military and technical cooperation for many decades while the association with Pakistan is to improve counter terrorism operations.

"Moreover, I would like to emphasise that India is a reliable and time-tested partner. As I have already noted, the high level of bilateral cooperation and trust allows us to start a gradual transition from the traditional producer consumer model to joint development and production of advanced weapons systems.As for Pakistan, we have held talks on Russia's possible assistance aimed at improving effectiveness of counter-terrorism and anti-drug operations. In my view, this kind of cooperation serves the long-term interests of all countries of the region, including India."

On how Russia wants to take the nuclear partnership with India forward, Putin said: "We concluded two inter-governmental agreements in this field in 2008 and in 2010. I must stress that today NPP Kudankulam is the world's only nuclear power plant which meets all the “postFukushima“ safety requirements."

"Apart from building new energy units of the NPP Kudankulam, we await the decision of the Indian government to allot a site for construction of a new Russiandesigned nuclear power plant. Our resources enable us to build up to 25 energy units in India. The policy document `Strategic Vision of the Strengthening Russian-Indian Cooperation in the Field of Peaceful Uses of the Atomic Energy' is also being prepared to be signed," he said.