Putin presents deal on aircraft carrier
When Prime Minister Vladimir Putin goes to India next week, he will bring with him a deal on the aircraft carrier “Admiral Gorshkov”, the vessel currently under reconstruction in the Sevmash yard in Severodvinsk.
During his visit to India due 11-12 March, Putin will sign military contracts worth four billion USD, among them a deal on the “Admiral Gorshkov”, the aircraft carrier which by the Indian side has been renamed the “Vikramaditja”.
According to Vedomosti, the Indian side will in the new contract invest another 1.5 billion USD in the vessel. The Russians however had pushed on the Indians to invest up to two billion USD. Negotiations on a new contract was started after President Dmitry Medvedev visited India in late 2008.
As BarentsObserver has reported, the aircraft carrier has over the last years been a troublesome issue in Russian-Indian relations. The 970 million USD contract signed in 2004 proved to be far from sufficient for the extensive modernization of the vessel, and Sevmash in 2007 announced that it would be unable to complete the job unless more money was invested from the Indian side.
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India reluctantly cashed out another 100 million USD for the vessel in 2009. In 2008, the Russian Vneshekonombank transferred six billion RUB to Sevmash to keep the project floating. Now, the aircraft deal will most probably be finally settled and the vessel sent to India in late 2012. That is almost four years after the original time schedule.
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The aircraft carrier was originally included in the Russian Navy in 1987 and sailed three years under the name “Baku”. In 1990, the vessel was renamed “Admiral Gorshkov”. It was retired from the fleet in 2004.
