Moscow, Oct 22: Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov on Friday denied reports of a nuclear submarine deal with India, Press Trust of India said from Moscow. "I can assure you that the information about the submarine is not true," Mr Ivanov was quoted as saying by the ITAR-TASS news agency which on Thursday reported the deal.
Mr Ivanov, the new co-chairman of the Indo-Russian Intergovernmental Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation, said that during his New Delhi visit in January, no negotiations were held on submarines.
"We really had discussed very serious contracts in military-technical co-operation, in particular, a major contract for the supply of 'Admiral Gorshkov' aircraft carrier was signed. But there were no talks about submarines or their leasing," he said.
ITAR-TASS and private Interfax news agencies, quoting 'defence industry sources', on Thursday reported the signing of the submarine deal earlier this year with India. According to the Thursday report Russia was to lease Akula-II class multi-role nuclear submarine 'Nerpa', currently under construction at a shipyard in Komsomolsk-on-Amur in the Far East.
