The leaders of Russia and France have told Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee that they are in favour of modifying rules of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), so as to allow India to import civilian nuclear plants without signing the Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT). Sources said Russian President Vladimir Putin as well as French president Jacques Chirac, in their meetings with the PM in St. Petersburg last week, assured him that Moscow and Paris were in favour of amending NSG’s rules in keeping with India’s de facto nuclear status. Both meetings took place on board the Silver Whisper luxury liner, on St Petersburg’s 300th anniversary. The assurances contradict recent reports about Russian PM Kasyanov telling External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha, that Moscow would have to abide by NSG parameters which does not allow sale of civilian nuclear power plants to India because it has not signed the NPT. In fact, Russian Energy Minister Oleg Rumyantsev told a meeting of the NSG in Pusan, South Korea from May 19-23 that the ‘‘world had changed’’ and that de facto nuclear powers like India would have to be accommodated. On May 27, days before Putin met Vajpayee on the Silver Whisper, Moscow said ‘‘the activities of the NSG should not create obstacles for international cooperation in the field of peaceful uses of atomic energy and take into account new realities. in an adequate and timely manner.’’ Pointing out that the statements were ‘‘extremely significant,’’ analysts here said they amounted to driving another nail into the exclusive NPT club, which treats nations who have signed the Treaty differently from those who have not. India, which went nuclear in 1998, has refused to sign the NPT because it does not want its fissile material open to inspections. Russia has, in fact, already got around the NSG’s tough rules by selling India two civilian nuclear reactors which are being built at Kudankulam. Moscow used a 1988 agreement with India to argue the reactors predated the 1992 NSG rules. But when Russia provided nuclear fuel for India’s unsafeguarded Tarapore plant last year under the nuclear safety clause, a violation under NSG rules, members like the US and Japan saw red. Since, New Delhi has attempted to assuage the Americans by offering to put its unsafeguarded reactors under the IAEA. But when the US wanted New Delhi to put all fissile material it has already produced also under safeguards — amounting to signing the NPT — New Delhi refused. Last week’s renewed interest mean that New Delhi will now begin work on greater assurances it can offer the international community. Officials said Putin and Chirac conceded to Vajpayee that if India did open its unsafeguarded facilities to the IAEA, it should ‘‘expect greater commitment’’ from the international community. In talks with Washington, the MEA has sought to offer as bait the commercial potential of civilian nuclear reactors to a energy-hungry country like India. And while both sides have so far had extremely slow progress on this issue, the fact that the Bush administration has not slammed the door is significant, the analysts said. The forthcoming visit by Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal to the US on July 1 is likely to take up this issue as well, the sources said.
