Rice says India deal above pact with Russia

Asked whether developments in Georgia will affect the US-Russia civilian nuclear deal, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the present focus of America’s nuclear commerce policy was the India deal and not the one with Russia.

“Our principal focus right now has been on the India civil nuclear deal, having worked through the IAEA, now working through the NSG, and still trying to get into a position to make the appropriate presidential determinations in early September. So that’s our focus right now on the civil nuclear side,” Rice told reporters on her way to Tel Aviv.

Rice’s comments came even as Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon discussed a strategy with senior US officials in Washington to address reservations expressed by some countries at the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) over the draft waiver that is required to push the Indo-US nuke deal forward.

Fratto said the current focus of the administration was to see the India-US deal through.