India, Russia make progress on Gorshkov deal
23 Feb 2008, 2222 hrs IST,PTI
MOSCOW: India and Russia are reported to have made substantial progress on the vexed issue of cost escalation of aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov during the visit of a high-level Indian defence delegation here.
According to the Russian industry sources, although both sides made progress on the issue, discussions on cost overruns are expected to continue next month.
Defence Secretary Vijay Singh led the delegation to carry out physical verification of additional refit work needed to be done on the carrier as claimed by Moscow. During the five day visit of the delegation, which concluded on Friday, Singh held talks with Russian Energy and Industries Minister Viktor Khristenko and other senior officials who assured him that Moscow is making hectic efforts to ease the situation.
In the course of upgradation of Soviet-built Kiev Class aircraft carrier, lot of extra work and resources were required by the Sevmash Shipyard and the Indian team led by Singh had agreed that the new technical parameters don’t fit into the initial USD 700 million allocation on the upgradation of the aircraft carrier.
The 45,000 tonne displacement carrier was to delivered by August this year as per a contract signed in 2004 but Russia stunned India in November by demanding USD 1.2 billion more for refitting and other works.
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