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Mr Putin is the first foreign leader to have visited the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre.

Speaking to the centre’s staff and scientists, the President said that Russia would like to see India join the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Mr Putin also stressed the importance of cooperation between the two countries in the nuclear energy sector and expressed support for India’s participation in the international energy project announced by the Russian delegation at the UN Millennium Summit.

Russia and India began working together on nuclear energy for peaceful purposes in the 1970s and Mr Putin said it was pleasing to see that this cooperation is continuing today. The upcoming construction of a nuclear power plant at Kudankulam could become a flagship project for cooperation between the two countries. A new long-term programme for scientific cooperation through to 2010 will encourage this development.

The President concluded his meeting with the Indian scientists by saying that he was sure that productive scientific cooperation between Russia and India would continue in the name of peace and prosperity in both countries.

Following the meeting, Mr Putin answered questions from Russian journalists.