Russia has confirmed its readiness to transfer...
According to the paper, Russia and India quietly firmed up the 10-year lease of the K-152 Nerpa submarine during Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin"s visit to New Delhi last week.
With the final lease and training agreements now in place, India is dispatching a 50-member submarine crew, including 8-10 officers, to Russia to train on the Akula-II class nuclear submarine, the paper said.
"The Indian naval team will be leaving within 15 days. They will first undergo intensive training on the Nerpa and then bring it to India on the 10-year lease,"" a defense ministry source told the paper on Tuesday.
Akula II class vessels are considered the quietest and deadliest of all Russian nuclear-powered attack submarines.
The lease follows an agreement inked between New Delhi and Moscow in January 2004, with India funding part of the Nerpa"s construction at the Komsomolsk-on-Amur shipyard in the Russian Far East with an initial $650 million, the paper said.