New Delhi (Sputnik): India and Russia on Tuesday signed a $500 million deal for the construction of two Admiral Grigorovich class/advanced Talwar-class guided-missile frigates at Goa Shipyard under the technology transfer model.
India's state-owned Goa Shipyard Ltd (GSL) and Russia's state-run defence major Rosoboronexport signed the deal under the government-to-government framework for defence cooperation.
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"We have finalized a $500 million deal with Russia for construction of two warships in Goa," Shekhar Mital, CMD of GSL, said on Tuesday.
Additionally, India is also purchasing two other warships off the shelf from Russia for $950 million, the agreement for which was signed last month. The two frigates of the Project 11356 class will be bought directly from Russia which is almost fully built at Russia's Yantar Shipyard in Kaliningrad. The frigates will be equipped with M7N.1E gas turbine engines from Ukraine, for which India has already inked a separate agreement. Currently, the Indian Navy operates six Talwar-class frigates.
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On October 25, Sputnik reported that India was making a strong case before Russia to avoid payments in US dollars for the purchase of goods, including defense equipment. Sources told Sputnik that a senior government official at the country's Ministry of External Affairs met Russian officials on several occasions since the signing of the historic $4.5 billion S-400 defense deal on October 5, and discussions were held at length about payments for Russian imports.