MOSCOW: India and Russia will renew defence cooperation programme when the current 10-year programme expires in 2010, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said here.

"After 2010 we will review the progress and have another 10-year programme," he said on Thursday on completion of his three-day visit to Russia. "Our defence cooperation with Russia is a continuous process and some projects will overlap the 2010 threshold."

Speaking of the prospect of selling "BrahMos" to third countries, Mr. Mukherjee said India has already inducted the supersonic missile but Russian legislation did not allow the induction of weapons co-produced with another country.

"I suggested to the Russian side that they amend their legislation to induct the missile before we start marketing it," Mr. Mukherjee said. The Russian Government has drafted the necessary amendments and sent them to Parliament.

The Minister said he had asked the MiG company to make a presentation on the fifth generation plane that Russia wanted to build jointly with India.

Defence sources said India was not happy with the heavier version of the fifth generation aircraft promoted by Sukhoi and New Delhi would like to compare it with a lighter plane offered by MiG.

In a keynote address at the General Staff Academy of the Russian armed forces on Thursday, Mr. Mukherjee said: "Today the bedrock of India's relations with the Russian Federation is the multi-faceted military relations of which the most dynamic sector is our cooperation in the military-technical area."

Largest source

The Minister said Russia "has been, and remains the largest source of our arms, weapon systems and technology imports." He emphasised that the recent strengthening of defence ties with many other countries "is not at the expense of our traditional friendly relations with Russia which remain unique, time-tested and steadfast."

"I am returning to New Delhi today satisfied that with the vigorous interest of the leadership of Russia and India on the well-being of our defence and security ties, there is but only one path in the future, and that is uphill," he said.

Mr. Mukherjee explained that India had strong strategic and economic interests in Central Asia that included ensuring continuation of stable and secular regimes so that they did not become bases for terrorists and religious fundamentalists, maintaining links with defence establishments and production facilities, enhancing trade and investment, and tapping into local energy sources.

Denies reports

Speaking to Indian media before his departure, Mr. Mukherjee denied Wednesday's reports that Russia would help India build a nuclear submarine and an aircraft carrier. He described the reports as a "misunderstanding". He said that when he was replying to a question about ATV (Advanced Technology Vessel) he had in mind the Amur-class conventional submarine that Russia was keen on selling. And when asked about ADS (Air-Defence Ship) he spoke about the Gorshkov aircraft carrier which Russia was retrofitting for the Indian Navy.

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