2.6.09

Admiral Gorshkov update

India and Russia have finalised a new price for the aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov after months of protracted negotiations and the refitted warship would be delivered to the navy by 2012, top Russian officials said on Monday. “New Delhi has agreed to allocate extra funds for the carrier which would be delivered to the navy in 2012, four years behind schedule,” they said. Though the officials did not spell out the new price for the carrier, they said India has agreed to release extra funds for the upgradation works on the Kiev class carrier after an assessment by a naval team led by Rear Admiral P K Nair and a group of Russian experts of contractors and vendors. The new deal could be tied up later this week after Indian Defence Secretary Vijay Singh’s negotiations with his Russian counterpart. Singh has been sent to Moscow by the fefence minister A K Antony, reflecting the new government’s resolve to speed up all defence purchases. Any fresh deal worked out would have to have the concurrence of the Cabinet Committee of Security. “The negotiations were successful,” Sevmash CEO Nikolai Kalistratov was quoted as saying .

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