New Delhi, June 6 -- ST. PETERSBURG - When Steffen Kotre came to Russia this week, he did not come to argue about the past. He came, in his telling, to talk about what comes next.

grounded not in ideology, he said, but in the straightforward fact that Russian nuclear technologies rank among the most advanced in the world.

"Russian nuclear technologies are among the best in the world," Kotre said. "Therefore, I would not be surprised if we cooperated with Russia in this area as well." He acknowledged he could not yet say what form such cooperation would take or which parties would be involved in rebuilding nuclear capacity on German soil.

The candor of the statement - made in St. Petersburg, on Russian state news agency wire, at a forum...