Russian defence minister confirms one-year delay in delivery of Admiral Gorshkov

Russian Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov on Wednesday confirmed a delay of one year in the delivery of aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov to India.

Amidst reports of imposition of a penalty for the delay, Serdyukov arrived in the national capital earlier in the day for defence minister-level talks.

The minister's confirmation to the projection of one-year delay comes as a big setback for the Indian Navy , which was hoping to commission Gorshkov before December this year.

Earlier, India had on Tuesday warned that it could impose a penalty of up to five per cent of the total deal worth over $2.3 billion for the delay in handing over of the aircraft carrier. A senior defence ministry official put the likely amount of penalty at Rs.600 crore.

A final decision in this regard, however, was likely to be taken after Serdyukov's meeting with his Indian counterpart A.K. Antony.

Russian diplomatic sources questioned as to how India could impose such a penalty when they had not done so in the case of delivery of Scorpene submarines, whose delivery schedule has also slipped by over three years.

The first of the six Scorpene submarine contracted from France was supposed to be delivered in 2012, but now it is scheduled for induction into the navy only by December 2015.

At the meeting, India was expected to raise the issue of delay in delivery of Gorshkov. The delivery schedule of the already much-delayed 45,000-tonne warship slipped further after it encountered engine malfunctions during sea trials in Russia.

The ship, rechristened INS Vikramaditya, was scheduled for commissioning into Indian Navy by December 4, but Russian media reports have suggested that it would now be delivered only in October 2013. The carrier was originally scheduled to join the navy in 2008.