The aircraft carrier has the last year been a sensitive issue in Russian-Indian relations. According to newspaper Vedomosti, the Indian side insisted that the issue was included in today’s meeting agenda.
At the same time, the Sevmash yard in Severodvinsk yesterday put the “Admiral Gorshkov” on the water after three years of repair and modernization on land.
“Symbolically, the vessel was put on the water on the Indian Navy Day”, the Sevmash press service writes in a press release, leaving little doubt that the vessel would be sold as planned to India.
A contract signed in 2004 stated that the vessel was to be completed and handed over to the Indians in 2008. However, Sevmash last year announced that it would not be able to complete the vessel in time and that it needed more money for the job. A revised contract between the sides is reported to be about one billion USD more expensive than the original agreement. The vessel is now reported to be handed over in 2011.
The Indians have however not been willing to pay the price demanded by the Russians. An Indian diplomat says to Vedomosti that India is willing to pay only 500 million USD extra for the ship.
