Russia, India sign weapons deals

NEW DELHI: Russia and India signed weapons deals worth billions of dollars yesterday as President Vladimir Putin sought to further boost ties with an old ally. Putin and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh hailed cooperation between their countries as officials signed deals that included the Russian delivery of 71 MI-17 V-5 military helicopters worth $ 1.3 billion as well as technological kits worth $ 1.6 billion to assemble 42 Sukhoi SU-30MKI fighter jets. "We agreed to further strengthen the traditions of close cooperation in the military and technical areas," Putin said after the signing. India, traditionally one of Moscow's top arms clients, said the two sides would also set up a joint venture to manufacture Russian-model helicopters and a $ 2 billion fund to invest in trade and economic cooperation projects. Putin's one-day trip, his first to India since he started a new Kremlin six-year term in May, underlines Russia's interest in India, long a regional ally and now a partner in the BRICS group of emerging-market nations. Russian defense industry sources had said the visit could produce deals on the sale of fighter jets and aircraft engines worth more than $ 7.5 billion. However, the main agreements appeared to fall short of that figure. Singh said the talks included discussions on the security situation in the region, including Afghanistan. "India and Russia share the objective of a stable, united, democratic and prosperous Afghanistan, free from extremism," Singh told reporters after the talks. Russia and India have shared close ties since the Cold War, when Moscow was a key ally and the principal arms supplier to New Delhi. The ties had slackened after the collapse of the Soviet Union, but grew stronger again after Putin came to power in 2000, seeking to revive Moscow's global clout and restore ties with old allies. While the volume of Russian-Indian trade has risen six-fold since 2000 and is expected to reach $ 10 billion this year, the growth has slowed in recent years. And even though India remains the No. 1 customer for Russia's arms industries, Moscow has recently lost several multibillion-dollar contracts to Western weapons makers. Russia has maintained its strong positions in the Indian market with $ 30 billion worth of arms contracts with India signed in 2000-2010 that envisaged supplies of hundreds of fighter jets, missiles, tanks and other weapons, a large part of which were license-produced in India. The countries have cooperated on building an advanced fighter plane and a new transport aircraft, and have jointly developed a supersonic cruise missile for the Indian Navy. But the military cooperation has hit snags in recent years, as New Delhi shops increasingly for Western weapons. The Indians also haven't been always happy with the quality of Russian weapons and their rising prices. Russia recently has suffered major defeats in competition with Western rivals in the Indian arms market. Russia has sought to downplay recent defeats of its arms traders, saying that other weapons deals with India are under preparation.