INDIA TO BUY NEW DIESEL SUBMARINES FROM RUSSIA?
RIA Novosti
NEW DELHI, February 9 (RIA Novosti's Natalia Shilo) - India does not rule out the possibility of buying new diesel submarines from Russia in the future, the Indoasian news service cites from Bangalore on Wednesday Indian Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee as saying at the opening of the 5th International Aerospace Exhibition Aero India'2005.
Asked about the possibility of buying conventional submarines from Russia, the defense minister said that India is trying to "boost its defense capacity" in this field "as soon as possible".
Now, ten Russian diesel submarines are in the naval service in India.
Mr.Mukherjee declined to say if India was going to buy or lease nuclear submarines from Russia. It is not the kind of armaments to be easily bought on the marketplace, he said.
"We have to see how they fit in our nuclear doctrine. And there are also international norms and obligations. Although India has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, we have voluntarily assumed limitations", he said.
In the end of last year, information appeared that Russia planned to lease the Akula (Project 941) multipurpose nuclear submarine to India for ten years. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov finally rejected the reports late last October.
"This information is untrue, I assure you", Mr.Ivanov then said, commenting on media reports that Russia and India had concluded a leasing contract.
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