India and Russia on Friday sealed agreements in the defence and strategic spheres, besides taking steps to extend their partnership in new areas such as energy and fertilizers. The deal includes three in civil nuclear field and one for purchase of 29 MiG-29 fighters besides inking the revised agreement on Gorshkov aircraft carrier, a deal that was stuck for three years over price.

Under the agreements in civil nuclear field, Russia will build 12 atomic plants — six in Kudankulam and six in Haripur in West Bengal.

The agreements were signed during the day-long visit of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin who held comprehensive talks with his counterpart Manmohan Singh with an aim of exploring opportunities for further boosting the relations.

They also discussed regional issues, including Afghanistan and Pakistan, in the context of terrorism and agreed to intensify their consultations on Afghanistan the challenges posed by terrorism and extremism in the region.

The pacts in civil nuclear field are Agreement on Cooperation in the use of Atomic Energy for Peaceful Purposes and Agreement on Road Map for the Serial Construction of Russian Designed Nuclear Power Plants.

An MoU was also signed on Nuclear Power between NPCIL and Atomstroy Export for construction of Third and Fourth atomic plant in Kudankulum in Tamil Nadu.

The revised agreement on Gorshkov aircraft carrier deal was also signed during the visit. The deal had initially been signed in 2004 at the cost of USD 1.5 billion, along with 16 MiG-29Ks. However, the Russians later demanded USD 2.9 billion, citing escalation of costs.

After protracted negotiations, the two sides settled at USD 2.34 billion.

Both sides had discussions on regional and global issues and agreed to intensify consultations on Afghanistan and the challenges posed by terrorism and extremism in the region.

“In the run-up to and during Prime Minister Putin’s visit, we finalised several important and long pending defence cooperation projects which will deepen our longstanding partnership in this vital sector. We have signed the Inter-Governmental Agreement on Cooperation in Atomic Energy and agreed upon a road map for construction of nuclear power plants. An MoU for bilateral cooperation in Russia’s satellite navigation system has been agreed upon,” Dr. Singh said in a statement shortly after concluding delegation-level talks with Mr. Putin.

Dr. Singh also referred to the agreement on strengthening cooperation in hydrocarbons through greater collaboration between gas companies. “We have identified information technology and telecommunications as focus areas for our future economic cooperation,” he added.

Exhaustive discussions between officials from both sides closed deals pending for months and years, identified new areas of cooperation and narrowed divergent views in some areas. “We should not see this visit as a one-off affair. Rather, the discussions today are a continuation of the dialogue that has been taking place nearly every month between specialised delegations. We have several military agreements that have been in the pipeline for a long time. We also have another MoU in energy that takes discussions on this subject forward. Space and nuclear cooperation are the other areas where, like energy, there has been steady progress,” said the official.

Describing Mr. Putin as the “architect” of the strategic partnership between India and Russia, Dr. Singh said India owed a “deep sense of gratitude” to him for bringing the two countries closer to each other. Mr. Putin made the first of his five visits to the country a decade ago and since then was the chief guest at the Republic Day parade in 2007. On his visit to Moscow in December last year, Dr. Singh was closeted with the former two-term Russian President, both sides discussing ironing out the wrinkles in bilateral relationship and expanding their cooperation.