India tells Russia that Kudankulam plant safe: diplomat

In the wake of reports of a cyberattack on the Kudankulam nuclear power plant, Indian authorities have apprised Russia that necessary steps have been taken to prevent similar incidents in the future, a senior Russian diplomat said on Tuesday. The Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu is a joint venture between India and Russia.

Deputy Chief of the Russian Embassy Roman Babushkin said Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited has informed Russian authorities that the plant is safe and additional steps have been taken to enhance its security further. "The Russian authorities are working with Indian agencies to stop any further attacks," he said. On the BRICS summit beginning Wednesday in the Brazilian city of Brasilia, Babushkin said ways to deal with the challenge of terrorism will be a focus area, and referred to setting up of a number of working groups to deal with terror financing and transnational crimes.

He also said that issues like the situation in Kashmir and Xinjiang in China are unlikely to figure in the deliberations at the summit. Babushkin said Moscow has been focusing on ensuring that the Islamic State terror outfit does get a foothold in Afghanistan, adding his government was for bringing peace and stability to that country.

Brazil is the current chair of the BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa). The grouping represents over 3.6 billion people or half of the world population and they have a combined GDP of USD 16.6 trillion. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is attending the two-day summit.

Before leaving for Brazil, Modi said the BRICS summit will focus on strengthening ties among the world's five major economies in key areas such as digital economy, science and technology, and also build mechanisms for counter-terror cooperation. "I look forward to exchanging views with other BRICS leaders with the aim to further strengthen intra-BRICS cooperation, particularly on the theme of the summit 'Economic growth for an innovative future'," Modi said in his departure statement

During the summit, the five major economies of the world will aim to significantly strengthen their cooperation in science, technology, and innovation, he said.

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