Visiting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Friday oversaw the signing of an agreement to sell to India 42 Su-30 jets in kit form as the Kremlin scrambles to retain ties with its Soviet-era arms purchaser.
The agreement comes after India – the biggest importer of military hardware among emerging nations –– had earlier this year rejected Moscow’s bid to supply its traditional ally with 126 multi-role combat aircraft in a deal worth about $12 billion.
The two leaders sought to play up progress in bilateral ties, stressing they withstood the test of time.
“Our cooperation with India in the military technical sphere has reached an unprecedented level,” Medvedev said in comments released by the Kremlin.
After the talks the two leaders oversaw the signing of an agreement to “render technical assistance in the organisation of production of the SU-30 plane,” the Kremlin said in a statement without providing further details.
The Kremin said ahead of the signing the two sides had planned to ink an agreement to supply India with 42 Su-30 jets in kit form that would be assembled in India.
After talks in Moscow with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Prime Minister Singh said that his country plans to start up a Russian-built nuclear power plant within weeks. He said the first two reactors at the Kudankulam plant were close to being activated.
The power station in the southern state of Tamil Nadu is one of several planned power projects that are seen as vital to plugging huge electricity shortages that have damaged economic growth.
However, protests by local people against the power station gathered pace after the Fukushima accident in Japan in March.
“We are confident that we will be able to persuade some of these people that their concerns are adequately taken care of, that our nuclear plants are safe and sound and there is nothing to worry about with regards to their safety,” Singh said.
“I am therefore confident that in a couple of weeks we should be able to go ahead with operationalising Kudankulam, and thereafter, by a period of six months, Kudankulam 2.”
Published in The Express Tribune, December 17th, 2011.
COMMENTS (14)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
1714024018-0/ModiLara-(1)1714024018-0-270x192.webp)
@Guru: "Both countries will never learn from its past, and even having nuclear arsenals still feeling insecure." We in India did learn from our past. No, we don't feel insecure at all. That is why we want to make sure that no bin Qasim or Ghazni or Ghaznavi even dares to look at us with anything but respect and fear. It is you Pakistanis who don't miss any opportunity to flaunt your "atom bum" and always talk about "nooklear rivals", "nooklear holocaust", "nooklear-armed" and so on and so forth. The rest of the six nuclear powers hardly ever open their mouths with such epithets. This shows the insecurity and fear you feel even in your bones. And, please, please do NOT club us with yourselves. We don't welcome or feel good with such association. You told us back in 1940's that we are two very different peoples. And now that we agree, you club us back together! Why?
@ Loyal to Pakistan.....Pakistan must have millions of loyals like you in Army, politics and administration and its the only reason for the present state of pakistan.....I wish every pakistani becomes like you....after all, pakistan won all the wars with India, has the most competent military , certainly more advance than India which defends its borders so efficiently that not even a bird can cross it.... you have one of the lowest Poverty rates and Highest literacy rates in the Asia, you have cleaner cities , high per capita income, have the asia's most extensive and efficient rail network, the PIA is the most favoured airline and have the best of airports in Asia...you have a thriving and successful film and entertainment industry ...and have highest Forex reserves ,at least, in Asia....Pakistanis world wide are leading Global corporates as CEO of various MNCs and Pakistani Scientists and doctors are among the best in the world...They are the most beloved community and most respected Indeed.....I dont understand why all this disappears once you open your eyes.....
@Munir Ahmad Saeed:
Humiliating defeat is humiliating defeat, what does it matter if it was 45k or 90k POWs?
Not only was it a humiliating defeat, Pakistani Army went on a rampage on its own people! Bangladesh Government says 300k people were either killed, raped or looted by the West Pakistani Army. Isn't that shameful?
Besides, only yesterday or the day before, a Pakistani military person who served at that time wrote an article about how the Indian Army behaved professionally and conducted itself with honour, even going to the extent of protecting West Pakistanis. Would such an Army lie about its successes? Highly unlikely.
india isnt buying these state of the art crafts coz it feels so threatened by pakistan...war isnt in the interest of india, not for kashmir, and not for eliminating the terrorists hurting india, brought up on pak territory..every country wants to have a global impact and dominance, for which it shall continue to expand, economically and militarily...tats where, pakistan, with its incessant use of jihad as an instrument of foreign policy, has lost out terribly on becoming a major political power...
@zaid hamid: Still in a begging mode I see and will always remain so.
Pakistan is certainly not worried about this deal.I very much doubt that the Indians are capable to assemble these SU-30 kits properly. Mig-21 and Mig-29 were also assembled from Russian kits with some local Indian made parts(Indians called in technology transfer) and we very well know that most of those jets are not in service anymore. Thanks to the Indian made parts and skilled workforce, most of those jets crashed. IAF has one of the worst safety records in the world(Just google it). Not very long ago, all Indian Mig-29's were grounded after consecutive crashes(Just check IAF crash record in last 20 years). The only industry that's running in India (thanks to the English speaking Western countries), are their call centers. INCREDIBLE INDIA
Both countries will never learn from its past, and even having nuclear arsenals still feeling insecure. We have to come to term. Also you could never become a superpower by purchasing technology from others. Seller will always make money from us and reinvest in research and development. This money can simply be invested in education and that's a long term solution to all our problems. We’ve 6 billion dollars budget for defense and over 6000 elementary schools are running without teachers. What are you defending with 6 billion dollars, if I may ask? Sovereignty? There is no more, US is droning on our back day and night. Dignity? Then stop begging first? Pride? Gone with leaders and establishment, who kept us uneducated and in dark for over half a century. So wake up and smell the coffee. @Zaid Hameed. Why begging is not going out of our and our gov't's blood. Pls stop relying on aid and start thinking about studying and working hard to up lift this country. If you really care!!!
Except for junk F-16s, rejected by India, junk artillery and 30 years old junk frigates, Pakistan could not even get vintage F-15s or F-18s out of USA to match SU-30s - a Soviet era vintage but one of the most versatile fighter aircraft in the world.
Wonder what Pakistan will do with its outmatched and outclassed Thunders and the "new" F-16s Block 52 which are provided with sort of "kill buttons" to prevent them from fighting USA, NATO and other "friendly" aircraft from countries like India.
Pakistan is to be congratulated for its all round "failed" level of skills
PM has used these hefty deals to buy political and diplomatic success in this trip. India-Russia relations were drifting away as India was getting closer to USA. Then there was the rejection of the Dollar 12 Billion fighter aircraft deal that had made the Russians feel let down. PM just restored the goodwill and thaw. India can afford to do this for it has huge sum of unspent money in its defence procurement budget. The authorities there just cannot find enough weapons to run the funds dry. This is peculiar but true. So we will see more and more defence purchases becoming political decisions in the days to come ------------ Arming without aiming, as they say.
Indian govt daydreaming with its military toys and delusional superpower dreams as usual
We want more aid
There is no hard in day dreaming, nor there is a ban. What are you so bothered about Mr. Zaid Hamid?? Your country can buy what you want and we buy what we want....whats big deal...But where was this zazba when 3000 forces forced 30 000 forces to surrender in Dhaka?? What about this zazba in Kargil?? Did you not notice various articles in this newspaper yesterday on 71 war?? You would have got some resemblance of facts for yourself.....But some people refuse to learn from history.
They can have whatever they want. But we have zazba and china. We can get these kind oc planes for free from our all weather friend china.