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Arun Mohanty in Moscow
India and Russia have signed a protocol detailing the technical parameters of their deal on the aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov.
Negotiations for India to acquire the warship have been dragging on for years. Both sides finally entered into a sale agreement during President Vladimir Putin's visit to India in October 2000.
According to the terms of the contract, Russia is to modernise the 44,000 tonne carrier that was de-commissioned from its navy several years ago. Russia is also likely to supply MiG-29K and other equipment to modernise it.
"With the signing of the protocol on Wednesday [at St Petersburg], negotiations reached a new level and India received answers to its questions," an official from Rosoboronexport, Russia's principal state-owned arms export agency, told the Indo-Asian News Service.
But a decision on the modernisation details and payment terms is yet to be made.
As a result of protracted negotiations, India will get the carrier cheap, but Russia will benefit by getting the contracts for its repair and modernisation.
"Russia expects the decisions on modernisation and payment terms to be reached by December," the Rosoboronexport representative said.
The Admiral Gorshkov is at present berthed at the northern Russian port city of Severdvinsk, where modernisation and repair work will be undertaken.
The carrier was built at the Nikolayev shipbuilding yard in the Ukraine and commissioned to the Soviet Navy in 1987. Some reports suggest a fire damaged it.
Indo-Asian News Service
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