NEW DELHI, March 17: India, playing host to Russian Prime Minister Fradkov on Friday, thanked Moscow for agreeing to supply nuclear fuel to its controversial Tarapur plant — a move objected to be the United States.

“The Indian side has expressed its appreciation for the supply of fuel to Tarapur Power Station,” a foreign ministry spokesman said after talks between Mr Fradkov and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The United States and India agreed on March 2 to a plan whereby India would separate its military and civilian nuclear facilities, enabling Washington to signal a resumption of uranium supplies to India.

But the United States has also cautioned that fuel cooperation between India and the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group should wait for New Delhi to fulfil its part of the deal first.

During the meeting of the two prime ministers ‘exchanged views on the excellent state of current bilateral relations’.

The spokesman said it was agreed that the strategic partnership between the two countries serves their long-term national interests and would further consolidate their multi-faceted cooperation.

“It was emphasised that the strong and forward-looking bilateral relations would promote peace, stability and security in the region and in the world. The Indian side has expressed its appreciation for the supply of fuel to Tarapur power station,” the spokesman said.

He said it was felt that the long tradition of political interaction at high levels, frequent commercial, scientific and cultural exchanges, as well as defence cooperation, between the two countries provide a valuable base to further strengthen the strategic partnership in a manner responsive to current global realities.

“In this context, the signing of agreements during this visit in the fields of space, energy, banking and between the Chambers of Industry & Commerce of India and Russia was welcomed,” he said.

Agreements were also signed between the Indian Space Research Organisation and the Federal Space Agency for launching of Russian navigation satellites, GLONASS-M, by a variant of the Indian Geo-Synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle.