India: PM raises Gorshkov aircraft carrier issue with Russia

Moscow, Dec 17 (PTI) India's 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 Friday. India's Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai told newsmen that both India and Russia were clear that they would take necessary action to ensure that there were "no slippages" in the delivery of the aircraft carrier being rechristened 'INS Vikramaditya' in the Indian Navy on its induction. 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 in the Indian Navy in August this year under a USD 1.5 billion deal signed in January 2004, which included the refit of the vessel and supply of 16 MiG-29K fighters. Russia started seeking more price for the warship around 2008, citing additional cost of repair for retrofitting the carrier ship. After protracted negotiations, the two sides had settled on USD 2.3 billion as the price for the second hand warship. With only one aircraft carrier INS Virat being operated now, the Russian-origin warship is key to India's plan of having one aircraft carrier each on its two seaboards on the east and the west. Meanwhile, construction of a third, an indigenous aircraft carrier is going on in Kochi on India's southwestern coast and it is expected to be inducted into the Navy by the end of 2014. Indian Navy pilots are expected to leave for Russia for training three months ahead of Gorshkov's expected delivery schedule of December 2012 for practising take offs and arrested landings at the aircraft carrier. PTI