India is clinching a US$1.6 billion deal to buy a refurbished aircraft carrier and 12 fighter jets from Russia.
The agreement on the sale of the Admiral Gorshkov carrier and the aircraft was to be signed by officials of the two sides yesterday in the presence of visiting Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov and his Indian counterpart, George Fernandes.
The aircraft carrier will be delivered to India by 2008, Ivanov told journalists soon after his arrival in New Delhi on Monday.
Ivanov's three-day visit is aimed at strengthening military and business ties between India and Russia.
The Itar-Tass news agency quoted him as saying the two countries should hold joint military exercises and search for other "new directions of interaction, primarily in aircraft building and the development of space technologies."
The two nations have long had close relations. New Delhi aligned with the former Soviet Union during the Cold War and is one of the biggest buyers of Russian arms.
India has bought more than US$30 billion worth of Soviet and Russian arms since 1960, and in recent years it closely followed China as the second largest client of Russia's weapons industries.
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