The annual meeting of the defence ministers of India and Russia, slated for Thursday, has been deferred till October 10 due to inability of the visiting minister to reach New Delhi.
Aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov will be handed over towards the end of next year, Russia said on Wednesday as India conveyed its "serious concern" over the prolonged delay and asked it to adopt a "wartime approach" for ensuring its early delivery.
India and Russia will sign a pact on Thursday to extend their military cooperation programme till 2020 as Defence Minister A K Antony and his counterpart Anatoly Serdyukov discussed a wide range of issues, including the upgrade of aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov.
Defence Minister A K Antony and his Russian counterpart Anatoly Serdyukov, who met in New Delhi over the last two days, also decided to take forward the joint fifth generation combat jets and mutirole transport aircraft projects over the next 10 years, under which India would get about 250-300 FGFAs and 45 MTAs
Union Defence Minister A K Antony arrived in Moscow on Tuesday for a crucial meeting of a key joint defence commission as the two countries are poised to finalise new co-ventures in strategic weapons, including investment and technical parameters of 5th generation fighters.
"The security of our peacekeepers and civilians has been restored," Medvedev said, adding, "The aggressor has been punished and suffered very significant losses. It's military has been disorganised." At his televised meeting with the Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov and Chief of General Staff General Makarov, the Russian President, however, said he ordered the military to defend itself and quell any signs of Georgian resistance.
Defence Minister A K Antony will co-chair the commission meeting with Russian Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov to hold talks on a wide-ranging agenda of military technical cooperation, covering key spheres, including timely delivery of contracted military systems, in the light of the reported settlement of the cost-escalation issue and supply of defence systems.
Over 20 Russian sailors were killed when a firefighting system went off during sea trials of a nuclear submarine in Russia's Pacific Fleet, Igor Dygalo, a senior navy commander was quoted as saying by the ITAR-TASS news agency on Sunday.
India is to buy 30 more carrier borne Mig-29K (Fulcrum-D) fighters for the Indian Navy and an agreement to this effect will be firmed up during the upcoming visit of Russian Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov's to India next week.
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