Russia is not developing military cooperation with Pakistan, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Friday.
"I would like to stress that Russia is not maintaining military cooperation with Pakistan as it takes into account the concerns of [our] Indian partners," Putin said after a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
In the 1990s, Pakistan was the chief purchaser of T-80UD tanks produced by Ukraine.
India and Pakistan resumed talks on normalizing bilateral relations for the first time in many years in 2008, but the peace hopes were shattered when a coordinated terrorist attack hit the Indian city of Mumbai in November 2008, claiming at least 166 lives and wounding more than 300 people.
India then blamed the Pakistani-based Lashkar-e-Taiba movement for the assault and said it wanted to see a "visible response" from Islamabad.
New Delhi has a long history of military ties with Moscow. The current cooperation program comprises about 200 joint projects, including the transfer of technology for the licensed assembly of T-90 tanks in India, the production of BrahMos missiles and the purchase of Smerch MLRS by India.
Earlier on Friday, Russia and India signed a $1.5-billion contract on the supplies of 29 more MiG-29K Fulcrum-D carrier-based fighter jets to New Delhi.
The two countries signed a contract stipulating the supply of 12 single-seat MiG-29Ks and four two-seat MiG-29KUBs to India in January 2004. The contract is part of a $1.5 billion deal to deliver the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier, currently being retrofitted in Russia for the Indian navy.
NEW DEHLI, March 12 (RIA Novosti)
