RUSSIAN Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was to seal a series of multi-billion dollar arms deals today during a visit to India aimed at boosting ties with Moscow’s old Cold War ally.
According to Russian officials, Putin will sign more than a dozen pacts amounting to $10bn (£6.6bn), including an accord to resolve the troubled sale of a refitted Soviet-era aircraft carrier, the Admiral Gorshkov.
Other deals include a contract to sell India 29 MiG fighter jets and an agreement to install additional nuclear power units in Tamil Nadu, where it is already building two reactors.
The sale of the Admiral Gorshkov has been marred by a series of price disputes and delayed deliveries, fuelling concerns in Moscow that India could be tempted to end its dependence on Russian military equipment.
Putin’s foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov said the new accord would “suit both sides” and help put the dispute behind them.
“We have an enormous interest in India,” he told reporters ahead of Putin’s arrival in New Delhi.
Russia supplies 70 per cent of India’s military hardware but in recent years New Delhi has looked to other military suppliers including Israel and the US.
The strong ties between Moscow and New Delhi date back to the 1950s after the death of Stalin. But India has in recent years also taken care to balance this friendship by fostering closer relations with Washington.
India’s foreign ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash described Russia as a “valued partner and time-tested friend.”
“We have a similar outlook on a whole host of regional and international issues,” Prakash said.
Together with Brazil and China, Russia and India are part of the so-called BRIC grouping of major developing economies seeking to promote a multipolar world economy not dominated by the US.
At just over $7.5bn (£5bn) in 2009, trade turnover is minuscule and the two countries will aim to increase it to $20bn (£13.2bn) by 2015.
According to Indian officials, energy is emerging as a new focus of cooperation between oil and gas-rich Russia and energy-starved India, which is always on the lookout for new fuel sources to power its growing economy.
Russia is expected to begin construction soon of another nuclear power facility in West Bengal.