NEW DELHI: Just ahead of PM Modi’s visit to Ukraine on Aug 23, the Russian Navy chief is now In India to explore new avenues to further strengthen maritime cooperation between Moscow and New Delhi.
Admiral Aleksandr Alekseyevich Moiseyev, on an official visit to India from Aug 19 to 22, held wide-ranging discussions with chief of defence staff General Anil Chauhan and Navy chief Admiral Dinesh Tripathi on Monday.
India has been trying to strike a fine strategic balance between its long-standing partnership with Russia and the US-led western bloc, which has repeatedly voiced its concern about the close ties between New Delhi and Moscow. India, of course, remains worried about the tightening strategic clinch between China and Russia.
On Monday, the discussions Between Admiral Moiseyev and Gen Chauhan “underscored the mutual commitment towards enhancing maritime security, deepening strategic cooperation and fostering a stronger
defence partnership
between the two nations”, an official said.
Another official added, “The visit is a testimony to the longstanding relationship between the navies of Russia and India. The visit aims to strengthen
bilateral naval relations
, as also to explore new avenues for naval cooperation.”
The Russian Navy chief’s visit, which will also see him touring the Western Naval Command and Mazagon Docks in Mumbai, comes ahead of the delivery of two guided-missile frigates being built in Russia for India. The delivery of the frigates as well as the remaining two squadrons of the five S-400 Triumf air defence missile systems for the IAF have been delayed due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, as reported by TOI earlier.
The first of the two 4,000-tonne multi-purpose frigates is now likely to be delivered by the Yantar Shipyard in Kaliningrad within a couple of months and will be commissioned as INS Tushil. The second one, INS Tamal, in turn, will be delivered by early next year.
India in October 2018 had inked an umbrella agreement for the procurement of the four Grigorovich-class frigates. While the first two frigates are to be imported from Russia for around Rs 8,000 crore, the next two are being built at the Goa Shipyard with transfer of technology at an overall cost of around Rs 13,000 crore, as was earlier reported by TOI.
All the four frigates will be armed with the BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles, apart from other weapon systems and sensors. They will add to the six such Russian stealth frigates, three Talwar-class and three Teg-class warships, already inducted into the Indian Navy from 2003-2004 onwards.