Indo-Russian nuclear tie-up may raise eyebrows in U.S.

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

BOSTON, OCT. 4. The Clinton administration has not substantively commented on the Russian President, Mr. Vladimir Putin's visit to India and the signing of the strategic partnership accord between the two countries that envisages closer cooperation on nuclear and defence issues and on combating terrorism.

One view is that it is unlikely that Washington would react at all, given that the administration is now in the election mode and that the period between now and the coming and settling down of the next administration will not see much activity.

At the State Department on Tuesday, the deputy spokesman, Mr. Philip Reeker, was more concerned about Russia and Yugoslavia and demanded that Moscow turn over Mr. Slobodan Milosevic to the International War Crimes Tribunal should he show up in the Russian capital. ``There's an indictment that calls for any country to hand him over to The Hague. That's very clear, including Russia... we expect the indictment to be followed.''

On the major initiatives taken by India and Russia in the last few days, analysts feel an adverse reaction was unlikely from the Clinton administration given that what transpired in New Delhi during Mr. Putin's visit had been envisioned for some time now. One senior diplomat was confident that Washington would see things in the proper perspective.

From a non-official perspective, it is said that while Mr. Putin's visit to India and the agreements signed breathed new life into an old relationship, from Russia's standpoint it would be fairly limited as it did not have large resources.

It is being stressed that the days of the zero-sum game are long over; as also in the recognition that major Asian powers are taking steps to come to terms with global, regional and bilateral issues in a changing environment, even if Washington is uncomfortable and does not accept the notion of a multipolar world.

The agreements between New Delhi and Moscow on military hardware are ``not a big deal'', said a South Asia analyst and pointed out that China and even the United States had struck similar deals with Russia.

However, there are at least two areas that would merit some attention. The fact that India and Russia have agreed to cooperate closely on nuclear issues will raise some eyebrows in the non-proliferation community here.

At the same time, experts say, Mr. Putin has been very careful in his statements, particularly when it came to recognising India as a nuclear weapons state.

Another area of importance was Afghanistan and what India and Russia planned to do by way of cooperating to combat terrorism.

If indeed the two countries were talking about military cooperation, then the line-up would seem like the U.S., Russia, India, China and Iran targeting the Taliban which could put Pakistan in a tight spot. This could raise problems in the future, it is being said.

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Section  : International
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