Putin ready to lease nuclear submarines to India, minister says
New Delhi: Russia said it’s ready to lease India more nuclear-powered submarines a day after President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged to deepen defence ties. “If India decides to have more contracts to lease nuclear submarines, we are ready to supply,” Russian trade minister Denis Manturov said in an interview in New Delhi today. The vessels would bolster India’s ability to patrol its waters as it seeks to thwart China’s efforts to extend influence in the Indian Ocean. Russia, whose economy is being pushed toward a recession by sanctions over Ukraine, aims to boost defence sales and deepen its ties to friendlier nations in Asia. “Russia will remain our most important defence partner,” Modi said on Thursday after welcoming Putin to the capital. They discussed a “broad range of new defence projects,” including plans to make one of Russia’s most advanced helicopters in India, he said. India inducted its first nuclear attack submarine from Russia for $1 billion in 2012 under a 10-year contract, which can carry out longer missions and respond faster to threats. It’s fleet of 14 diesel-power submarines are more than a decade old, with half of them commissioned in the 1980s. “Nuclear-powered submarines have assumed far greater significance and changed the complexion of maritime warfare,” then-defence minister A.K. Antony said the induction ceremony....
