Russia has welcomed the IAEA-nod for the India-specific safeguards agreement, but has said the approval of the nuclear watchdog did not imply a recognition of the country as an official nuclear power as stipulated in the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The safeguards agreement was approved by the 35-member Board of Governors of the IAEA by consensus yesterday, and would pave the way for implementing the Indo-US atomic deal, bringing India closer to ending nuclear isolation.
"Consistently acting in favour of developing peaceful cooperation with India, we welcome the decision of this country to put its nuclear fuel and facilities in the civilian nuclear sector under IAEA supervision and safeguards," Russian permanent envoy in Vienna, Alexander Zmeyevsky was quoted as saying by the local media.
The agreement will open 14 of India's 22 existing and future nuclear reactors for inspections by the UN nuclear watchdog.
Zmeyevsky, however, underscored that India-specific safeguards agreement "does not contain clauses, which could be interpreted as recognition of India as a nuclear weapon state in the sense of NPT or giving India the right to withdraw from the IAEA safeguards at its own discretion".
He expressed hope that implementation of the IAEA safeguards will be expanded to the nuclear fuel cycle and would serve as "a reliable mechanism to purely peaceful nature of New Delhi's international nuclear cooperation".
Russia is completing the construction of two nuclear reactors for the Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu, even as the two countries have signed an MoU to build four more reactors after an NSG clearance.