By Naveen Kapoor

New Delhi, Nov.10 (ANI): Russia stands with India in combating terrorism and backs India’s

proposal of Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT), said Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation S.S. Sobyanin here on Tuesday.

Convention on International Terrorism or, the CCIT is an Indian document, which outlines the definition of terrorism and proposal of anti-terror law submitted to United Nations in the late 90s, which is under discussion for many years.

In 2001, India in fact submitted its revised version and has been pitching for its implementation.

Sobyanin also said that Russia and India would work together against terrorism through its joint working group on terrorism.

In what can be a major boon for India after cooperation in Sakhalin, Russia has expressed its readiness to offer India an exploration block in Yamal.

“Russia is ready to offer India another exploration block at its site in Yamal in cooperation with gasprom,” Sobyanin informed mediapersons and added: “Russia is willing to give India access to Russian satellite Glonass for civilian purpose.”

Expressing happiness over lifting of sanctions on India for doing nuclear trade, S.S. Sobyanin who co- chairs the Russian-Indian Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation said: “Russia would follow a “new approach” in

conducting nuclear trade with India, which will be more competitive. For this purpose, more cooperation will be sought from the Russian State Nuclear Energy Corporation, Rosatom.”

Russia is assisting in building Light Water Reactors in Kudankulam 1 and 2 and has recently been allotted two more sites in Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu and Haripur in West Bengal to build nuclear reactors.

Russia is in direct competition with the United States and France, which are bidding for India’s nuclear pie, expected to touch 150 billion dollars in the next 20 years, and includes supply fuel and technology.

Glonass or, the Global Navigation Satellite System is a radio-based satellite navigation system. It has been developed by the former Soviet Union and now operated for the Russian government by the Russian Space Forces.

It is an alternative and complementary to the United States’ Global Positioning System (GPS), the Chinese Compass navigation system, and the planned Galileo positioning system of the European Union (EU).

Glonass was developed to provide real-time position and velocity determination, initially for use by the Soviet military for navigation and ballistic missile targeting. (ANI)