NEW DELHI - Russian President Vladimir Putin offered Thursday to build four nuclear reactors for India and give it broader access to Moscow's energy riches.

Indian President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, left, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, shake hands at a meeting in New Delhi, India, Thursday Jan. 25, 2007. [AP]

Putin, who will be the guest of honor at India's Republic Day celebrations on Friday during his two-day visit, met Thursday with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and officials from the two nations signed several deals on energy, scientific and space cooperation.

"Although there has been a sea change in the international situation during the last decade, Russia remains indispensable to India's foreign policy interests," Singh said afterward.

On Friday, thousands of security personnel, including snipers, were deployed across India's capital and some metro rail services were suspended to prevent any militant attacks during the national celebrations, officials said.

Rusian and India's close ties during the Cold War - when Moscow was the principal arms supplier to New Delhi - waned after the Soviet Union collapsed and India opened its markets to the rest of the world. The nonmilitary trade has slackened, but the two leaders vowed to give it a boost.

"We hope the high level of political trust should be converted into economic opportunity. We hope to harmonize the political and economic aspects of our relationship," Putin said.

Singh said energy cooperation was at the center of the new "strategic partnership."

Russia has been eager to reassert its traditional role as the chief supplier of nuclear technology and know-how to India in the wake of a landmark civilian nuclear cooperation deal between New Delhi and Washington last year that opened the door to US companies' prospective expansion in India's nuclear market.

Russia is building two 1,000-megawatt nuclear reactors in the southern town of Kudankulam, and a memorandum of understanding signed Thursday said that the four new reactors would be built, but did not outline a timetable or other specifics.

In the past, Russia has stood by India, supplying it with reactors and fuel even as it was denied Western technology for its refusal to sign the international Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

However, the reactor deal would depend on the Nuclear Suppliers Group, a 45-member coalition of countries that regulate the world's atomic trade, lifting its restrictions on India's access to nuclear technology, the two countries said in a joint statement.

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