India to launch first domestically-made A-sub Sunday.

NEW DELHI, July 26 (Itar-Tass) - A ceremony marking the launch of
India's first domestically built nuclear-powered submarine is to be held
at the naval yard of the Visakhapatnam on the shore of the Gulf of Bengal
on Sunday. The ceremony is to be attended by Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh. Vyacheslav Trubnikov, the Ambassador of the Russian Federation to
India, will be also present at the launch ceremony.
The submarine with a deadweight of 7,000 tonnes, the design of which
was devised way back in mid-1980s and required investments amouting to
about $2,900 million, has been named Arihant (exterminator of enemies).
However, in actual fact, it is not quite soon that the submarine will
become a formidable combatant ship. According to plan, it will take at
least another two years before the submarine is commissioned and joins the
Indian Navy.
During the upcoming period, a nuclear reactor, a propulsion plant, as
well as all the structural elements will be thoroughly checked in a
special restricted-access section of the harbour in the shipyard
territory. The assembly of the necessary equipment is to be completed
during the same period. Then the submarine will undergo one-year-long
running trials in the open sea.
The Indian Defence Ministry analysts link the launch of the first
domestically-built nuclear-powered submarine with a task of forming the
country's nuclear triad. According to preliminary estimates, the Arihant
will be armed with medium-range ballistic missiles capable of carrying
nuclear warheads to a range of up to 3,500 km.Their prototypes have been
twice tested at a proving area off the eastern coast of the country. The
Indian press data have it that the Navy Command has already got the green
light for placing orders for another two submarines of the same class. The
possibility of bringing the total number of such submarines up to five is
also under consideration.
Notwithstanding the fact that the firstling of the India's
nuclear-powered submarine fleet is only preparing for future naval duty,
the country's submariners have already gained experience in cruises aboard
nuclear-powered submarines. A Soviet-made nuclear-powered submarine was in
service with India on lease for three years since 1988. The submarine bore
the name of Chakra for the lease period.
A bilateral agreement has a provision that before the end of the
current year India will receive the nuclear-powered submarine Nerpa of
Design 971 ("Shark") from Russia on long-term lease conditions.The use of
that submarine will enable the Indian Navy to drill skills of operating
nuclear-powered submarines, and train crews for its future own versatile
atomic submarines.

.Int'l film festival to open in Svetlogorsk on Sunday.

KALININGRAD, July 26 (Itar-Tass) - The VI international film festival
Baltic Debuts opens in the health resort town of Svetlogorsk on the
Kaliningrad shore of the Baltic Sea, on Sunday.
The festival is the only kind of gathering of cinematographers with
the holding of competitive screening of debut films of the Baltic Sea
countries. The competitive programme this time comprises nine films made
by directors from Sweden, Finland, Norway, Poland, Germany, Denmark, and
Russia, Anastasia Volnova, press secretary of the festival, has told
Itar-Tass.
Festival organisers have prepared a premiere of the Finnish film
"Children's playground" directed by Tony Laine and the Polish film
"Pixels" by Jacek Lusinski. The competitive programme for the first time
includes a film from Denmark, "Escape". Director of the film Katherina
Windveld will arrive in Svetlogorsk to present the film in person to
Russian audiences.
The jury of the Baltic Deputs is headed by Regimantas Adomaitis,
Lithuanian theater and cinema actor. The jury also includes Sergei
Sholokhov, a TV jourmalist and film critic, Nikolai Khomeriki, director
and scriptwriter, young German actress Annjorka Schtrechel, and actor
Viktor Sukhorukov.
One of the festival days will be dedicated to the 90th jubilee of the
VGIK University of Cinematorgraphy. The occasion will be marked by the
opening of an art exhibition, and a retrospective show of productions made
by prominent alumni of the University, among them those byElem Klimov and
Nikita Mikhalkov.
The film festival Baltic Debuts is to come to a close on August 1.
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