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Russian Minister cancels visit over Gorshkov rift

By Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW NOV. 22. The Russian Defence Minister, Sergei Ivanov, has cancelled his visit to India next week to sign the long-awaited Admiral Gorshkov deal as talks have stumbled again over the price issue.

A package of 20 contracts for the refit and re-armament of the Russian aircraft- carrier, Admiral Gorshkov, was to be signed during Mr. Ivanov's trip on Nov. 26-28, which was formally announced during the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee's talks in Moscow earlier this month. However, the Russian Defence Ministry said on Friday that Mr. Ivanov's visit was being postponed by a month or two because the sides were "technically unready" to sign the documents. In a rare departure from the usually crisp announcement, a Defence Ministry source specifically blamed the Indian side for the delay.

While earlier delays were due to wrangling over the cost of the Gorshkov refit, this time it is the price of MiG-29K ship-based fighters that has derailed the signing. Russian Defence industry sources told The Hindu that the Indian side insisted on re-negotiating the aircraft deal under a formal pretext that the head of the MiG Corporation, who had negotiated the deal, was sacked by the Russian Government on November 4. Indian negotiators wanted to bring down the price of the aircraft or reduce the number of planes included in the deal. However, the Russian side was firm arguing that any further price reduction would wipe out the manufacturer's profit margin.

Russia is apparently hoping to sign the deal on its terms playing on India's desire to lease

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