Russia wants India to join Nuclear Suppliers' Group

Russia wants India to join the 46-nation Nuclear Suppliers' Group (NSG) as a full-time member and is ready to assist it in this, official sources said in Moscow.

At the just ended meeting of the NSG in Holland, Russia reiterated its intention to assist India in seeking the "full-blooded" membership of the elite group controlling global nuclear commerce, the foreign ministry sources said.

"Serious attention was paid to the issues of NSG's interaction with the nations not its members, but having a significant industrial and export potential in nuclear sphere, first of all India," foreign ministry sources in Moscow said, speaking on the conditions of anonymity.

"The Russian side confirmed its intention to provide all possible  help to India in getting the admission to this club as a full member," the sources underscored.

Moscow, which is already completing two 1,000 MWe each nuclear reactors at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu and is hoping to build at least six more light water VVER reactors in the shorter perspective, sees New Delhi as its major partner in civil nuclear energy and is ready to making it a major regional hub by setting up nuclear industry ventures in India including the fuel reprocessing for the neighbouring countries, sources in the state nuclear corporation 'Rosatom' say.