BANGALORE (India), January 22 (RIA Novosti) - Moscow and New Delhi are preparing to sign an agreement on the construction of additional power units for the Kudankulam NPP and of new nuclear plans in India under Russian plans, the Russian defense minister said Monday.

"First, we intend to expand our technical and economic cooperation in the sphere of NPP construction in India and in other fields related to the peaceful use of nuclear power with account for the two countries' bilateral obligations," said Sergei Ivanov, currently on a visit to India.

Russia's top nuclear official Sergei Kiriyenko said earlier Monday that Russia will supply nuclear fuel to the Kudankulam nuclear power plant it is helping to build in India during the second quarter of 2007.

Atomstroyexport, Russia's nuclear power equipment and service export monopoly, has been building the Kudankulam plant in the southern province of Tamil Nadu since 2002 in line with a 1988 agreement between India and the Soviet Union and an addendum signed in 1998. The plant, expected to be launched later this year, is designed to have capacity of 2,000 MW.

Kiriyenko said Russia was prepared to provide the Kudankulam plant with nuclear fuel throughout its operational life.

"Russia considers that India has an unimpeachable reputation in the nuclear non-proliferation sphere, and we are therefore going to push for an end to relevant sanctions against India," said the head of the Federal Agency for Nuclear Power.

India, a confirmed nuclear power, has never been party to the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and has been under U.S., Japanese and European sanctions since 1998 when it first tested nuclear weapons.