The issue of Russian telecom giant Sistema, whose 2G licences were cancelled by the Supreme Court recently, could come up for discussions when the Russian President, Mr Dmitry Medvedev, meets Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, here next week.

Mr Arkady Dvorkovich, Advisor to Mr Medvedev, gave ample hints in this regard during a media interaction, but made it clear that Russia will not act in any way that contradicts Indian laws.

Sistema JSFC, the majority shareholder in Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd that operates MTS, has already sent a notice to the Centre invoking the right to protect its investment under a bilateral treaty, against the Supreme Court order.

“All issues of that kind are discussed at that (top) level and it depends on the relationship between the countries.

“Based on the relationship between our leaders, I think, they will informally discuss this issue,” Mr Dvorkovich told Indian mediapersons in a tele-conference from Moscow.

“But in any case, issues of such nature are resolved on the basis of legislation of any country and certainly Russia will not act in any way that contradicts Indian legislation,” he said.

The President’s adviser was responding to a question whether Mr Medvedev would take up the Sistema issue during his talks with Mr Singh on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit scheduled to be held here on March 28.

He hoped that Sistema will be allowed to continue its operations in India as the company serves the development of the Indian telecommunication market.

“It (Sistema) has been a corporate citizen of India for long and it has been in the market. It would be good if our company continues to be in (India),” he said.

Sistema has a 56.68 per cent stake in SSTL and 21 of its 22 licences have been cancelled by the Supreme Court.

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