NEW DELHI, Nov 8: India and Russia on Wednesday finalized deals totalling seven billion dollars during Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s visit.

The Indian premier left Moscow for Washington more than satisfied with his three-day visit and his talks with President Vladimir Putin and the other Russian leaders.

Reflecting on his visit, Mr Vajpayee himself described the outcome of his talks, both on international affairs and their respective responses to them, as well as on bilateral issues, as having been “highly successful.”

Mr Vajpayee had good reasons to have been pleased with the outcome, which represents a further consolidation of the traditional friendship between the two countries. He recalled that this had been possible in spite of the fact that both had been new in their assignments, they had reflected the reality that the interests of the two countries were paramount and had responded appropriately.

Thus at the international level had been the finalizing of the Moscow Declaration which reflected the common urge of the two countries to fight international terrorism, by declaring: “Whatever be the motive of the perpetrators — political, ideological, philosophical, racial, ethnic, religious or other — terrorist acts are unjustifiable.”

Clarifying further, the declaration said, “in multi-ethnic and democratic countries such as India and the Russian Federation, violent actions being perpetrated under the slogan of self-determination, in reality represent acts of terrorism which in most cases have strong international links.”

On the operative clause, the declaration enjoined both countries to strengthen cooperation with each other in the struggle against international terrorism, and both noted that a close nexus existed between the two in the fields of illegal trafficking in narcotics, trade in arms and organised crimes.

Specifically in the case of Afghanistan, Mr Putin noted at the joint news conference, that India and Russia would be more actively involved in putting in place a broadly representative government. The two countries also agreed that there was no place for elements of the Taliban in any future government in Kabul.

Neither of the two countries however found common ground with the Indian refusal to heed the Russian reluctance to include the case of Kashmir or the urging of Mr Putin that Mr Vajpayee should meet General Musharraf. Mr Vajpayee told Mr Putin that everyone took the view that talks between him and General Musharraf should take place in a “conducive atmosphere which did not exist at present.” He is said to have reviewed instances of the talks that had taken place in recent days which had not yielded desired results.

Far outweighing this difference between the two, it was pointed out that besides defence contracts and memoranda for a number of nuclear power plants of which Russian assistance of Rs 131,710 million for the Kundankoolam plant in Tamil Nadu is just one. According to the agreement which has been signed, 90 per cent of the equipment would be made available by Russia, the rest of the 10 per cent to be procured either domestically or through third countries. The credit is to be repaid at an interest of four per cent over 14 equal instalments. The first unit of the plan would go on stream by December 2007 and the second by December 2008.

Apart from the nuclear power plants, memorandum for the investment of 1.7 billion dollars in the Sakhalin oil fields being undertaken by the ONGC’s Videsh unit. This apart, there are a number of other exploration sites being considered for the Videsh Nigam.

On the defence side, India is to receive the first instillment of 300 T-90 tanks which India had contracted to buy off the shelf. A larger number would be manufactured in India jointly with Russian assistance.

An interesting fact which had not been publicised hitherto is that defying the US ban, Russia has been supplying uranium for the Tarapore atomic plant. 85 tons have been supplied so far which is expected to last for five or six years. Costing Rs 11,750 million, the supply was originally supplied by General Electric Company of the United States since 1969 at a rated capacity of the plant of 210mw. The US put a ban on its supply when the Pokhran I explosion took place. Under the ban, none of the western suppliers were willing to come forward. But the Chinese had sold some of the heavy water.

Negotiations are going on for the joint manufacture of the advanced jet training aircraft. In addition four bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons have been offered for the Indian navy. These Tu-22 Backfire bombers, a maritime reconnaissance aircraft, can be fitted with the Kulb class missile with a range of 300kms. The defence deals between India and Russia are expected to add to seven billion dollars. There is also the price of the Admiral Gorshkov carrier for which negotiations are still in progress although there have been several rounds of discussions over the last eight years.

Speaking of the multifaceted range of agreements that were concluded, Mr Vajpayee commented in his media conference on the eve of his departure for the States, “Governments have changed in both countries but the love and friendship remains. Others can’t understand this phenomenon of Indo-Russian friendship.”