Moscow: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has
raised with Russia the issue of delay in the delivery of
Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier to the Indian navy, saying
it was important for India that the ship arrives in time.
The Gorshkov issue was raised by the Prime Minister
during the 12th Indo-Russian Summit talks with President
Dmitry Medvedev at the Kremlin here yesterday.
Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai told newsmen that both
India and Russia were clear that they would take necessary
action to ensure there was "no slippages" in the delivery of
the aircraft carrier which will be rechristened `INS
Vikramaditya`.
Mathai said Singh told Medvedev that "it is very
important for us (India) that the ship arrives in time."
According to the Russian side, the delivery would be
delayed till 2012. They also claimed that since last year New
Delhi has not made any payments although the extra work to the
tune of USD 1.7 billion has been done by the shipyard.
The 44.5-thousand tonner Kiev class aircraft carrier was
to be initially commissioned as INS Vikramaditya in August
this year under the USD 1.5 billion deal signed in January
2004, which included the refit of the vessel and supply of 16
MiG-29K fighters.
Sea going and flying trials of the refitted aircraft
carrier will be conducted by the Russian crew trained on the
`Admiral Kuznetsov` aircraft carrier in service with the
Russian Navy.
PTI
