Russia to build Indian atomic units

Russia is to build 12 nuclear reactors in India, half of them by 2017, the head of Russia's state nuclear corporation Rosatom has announced. Sergei Kiriyenko, speaking in the Indian capital New Delhi on Friday, said six of the reactors will be built between 2012 and 2017. "So far it is clear that it will be 12 [reactors]. And this is not the final figure," he said. Some of the units will be located in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, where two reactors are currently being built. One reactor is planned to be built in the eastern state of West Bengal after 2017. Kiriyenko is accompanying Vladimir Putin, Russia's prime minister, on a visit to India to sign a series of lucrative arms deals. Uday Bhaskar, a New Delhi-based defence and security analyst, told Al Jazeera that Putin's visit was significant in many ways. "This trip is about consolidating their relationship. There are a number of defence and strategic deals that will be signed. I also think there will be some political issues talked about such as how to deal with Afghanistan and also the rise of China," he said.