With India and Russia at loggerheads over the price of aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov, president Dmitry Medvedev has asked the staff at Sevmash shipyard to complete the warship at the earliest as it was "causing problems between the two friendly countries."
"It should be completed and commissioned at the earliest... it (delay in delivery) is causing problems between the two friendly countries ," the Russian president told the workers during a recent visit.
Going around the shipyard, Medvedev got to know from the management about the status of the projects.
But despite an upbraiding by the president, the director-general of the shipyard Nikolai Kalistratov today said that though India has agreed to the changes to the Gorshkov contract, Moscow was yet to receive any fresh price revision commitment.
"Sevmash has also not received any offers to continue to talk on the revision of the contract," he told Itar-Tass.
Russia is asking India for an additional payment of a whopping $2.2 billion over and above the contracted price of $1.5 billion.
"The Governments of Russia and India are negotiating a bigger contract price. We are waiting for the decision of the Indian side," Kalistratov said.
According to Sevmash, the carrier which has been christened INS Vikramaditya by the Indian Navy is 49% complete.
"If funds are provided regularly sea trials of the carrier would begin 2011 and the warship delivered to the Indian Navy by 2012," the top Sevmash official told Itar-Tass.
He said with the refit, the warship would operate for thirty years. Russia will also train the Indian crew of about 1,500 personnel and create an infrastructure for the warship in the Indian Ocean.
