Within a month of the prime minister’s visit to Moscow, India and Russia have agreed on the final price for the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier after several years of protracted negotiations.
Talks on the issue between the defence ministry’s Contract Negotiation Committee (CNC) and a Russian team were concluded recently, defence ministry sources said here.
The proposal will now be sent to the finance ministry and after getting clearance from there, the Cabinet Committee on Security will take a final call on the issue, they added.
The aircraft carrier is expected to join the Indian Navy fleet in 2012 as ‘INS Vikramaditya’.
The two countries have been renegotiating the deal since 2007 after Moscow demanded an additional $1.2 billion (Rs 5,600 crore) for the warship. Later, the demand was increased to $2.9 billion (Rs 13,500 crore) for refitting and refurbishing the aircraft carrier.The deal finalised during the NDA regime in January 2004 and India had paid $1.5 billion (Rs 6,700 crore) for the warship and 16 MiG 29K fighter aircraft.
