India, Russia Sign Protocols on Military Cooperation

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, February 09, 2002

India, Russia Sign Protocols on Military Cooperation

India and Russia signed protocols here Friday on military cooperation, including warship building, collaboration in the development of land-based weapon systems for the army and the air force.

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India and Russia signed protocols here Friday on military cooperation, including warship building, collaboration in the development of land-based weapon systems for the army and the air force.

However, the two sides failed to reach an agreement on the reported lease by India of two Russian nuclear submarines and on Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov, which New Delhi wanted to buy at the price of some 1 billion U.S. dollars.

The protocols were signed by Indian Defense Secretary Yogendra Narain and Defense Production Secretary Subit Dutta and Their Russian counterparts, Vramov Libo and A. V. Penisov, at the present of visiting Russian Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov and Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes.

At a brief press conference after the signing ceremony, Fernandes admitted that the two sides had not entered into any deal on lease of two Russian nuclear submarines.

"There is no (deal on ) nuclear submarine," he told the press conference jointly held with Klebanov, who left for Moscow Friday evening after concluding his four-day visit to New Delhi.

On the purchase of Russian aircraft carrier, Fernandes said that technical discussion on the issue had been completed and price negotiations were to be held later.

Reliable sources here said that the failure was due to disagreement on the prices for the lease of submarines and the India's acquisition of the aircraft carrier, which the two sides had bargained hard during negotiations.

New Delhi and Moscow signed a trade and economic protocol hereon Thursday, which provides for joint development of a 100-seater multipurpose transport aircraft, cooperation in oil exploration and unveiled new measures to reverse the declining trade.

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