India will pay about $2 billion to lease a nuclear submarine from Russia, Bloomberg reports, citing sources familiar with the matter, indicating that the completion of the deal to supply the vessel comes after about ten years of negotiations, just as Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin visits New Delhi this week, UNN writes.
Details
Negotiations on leasing a strike submarine from Russia had been deadlocked for years over price negotiations, sources said. The parties have now agreed on a deal, and Indian officials will visit a Russian shipyard in November, they said. India expects to receive the vessel within two years, although the complexity of the project means it could be later, they said.
The government clarified in a social media post on Thursday that the contract was signed in March 2019. Delivery was delayed, and the vessel was now expected to arrive in 2028.
Putin is due to arrive in India on Thursday for his first visit to the country since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. He will meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to emphasize defense and energy ties between the two countries, the publication writes.
Modi has sought to strengthen ties with Russia and China in recent months, asserting India's strategic autonomy after US President Donald Trump imposed punitive tariffs of 50% on the country's goods. The Modi government is now negotiating a trade agreement to reduce these tariffs, which were introduced as part of Trump's attempts to pressure India to stop buying Russian oil, as he seeks leverage over Putin to end the fighting in Ukraine.
Ahead of Putin's visit, Indian Navy Chief of Staff Dinesh K. Tripathi said this week that the commissioning of a strike submarine is expected soon, without providing details. The submarine will be larger than the two already in the country's Navy fleet.
India has developed submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) capable of carrying nuclear weapons, which theoretically provides it with a so-called nuclear triad that can be delivered from land, sea, and air, according to a report by the Nuclear Threat Initiative.
Nuclear vessels significantly outperform diesel-electric counterparts. They are generally larger, can stay underwater much longer, and are quieter, making them harder to track, especially when patrolling vast areas of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. According to NTI, India currently operates 17 diesel submarines.
Indian nuclear submarines, used for strategic deterrence, are built domestically and designed to carry SLBMs. India is also preparing to build nuclear attack submarines designed to hunt and destroy enemy submarines and surface ships, the publication writes.
Under the terms of the lease, the Russian attack submarine cannot be used in war. This will help India train sailors and improve operations with nuclear submarines as it builds its own vessels, sources said.
The vessel leased from Russia will be part of the Indian Navy for 10 years. The last Russian submarine, also leased for 10 years, returned in 2021, sources said. The lease agreement will include maintenance, they said.
India continues to maintain long-standing ties with Russia, while seeking deeper ties with the United States. It has reduced its reliance on Russian weapons by purchasing more armaments from the United States and European countries.
Even so, Modi's decision to rely on Russia for nuclear submarines demonstrates India's ease in relations with Moscow on critical platforms, despite criticism from Trump, the publication notes.
"They bought the vast majority of their military equipment from Russia and are Russia's largest energy buyer with China," Trump said in a Truth Social post in July. The US has pressured India to stop buying Russian oil by imposing a 25% "secondary tariff" on Indian imports to the US from late August.
According to Tripathi, India's third ballistic missile submarine is expected to join the nuclear forces next year. In addition, India is building two nuclear attack submarines, Bloomberg reports.
The Kremlin intensifies its propaganda in India04.12.25, 04:24 • [views_4244]
Addition
As the Indian Ocean region attracts more attention, interest in such vessels is growing. Australia is joining forces with the UK and the US to build similar boats as part of the AUKUS security partnership. Until now, only a few countries - the US, UK, France, China, and Russia - have had the technology to deploy and operate nuclear submarines.
South Korea is also cooperating with the US in building nuclear submarines.