India spends €1.4bn on Russian arsenal

India signed a near €1.4bn deal today to buy a refurbished aircraft carrier and 12 fighter jets from Russia.

The agreement on the sale of the 44,000 ton Kiev class Admiral Gorshkov and the aircraft was signed by officials in the presence of the visiting Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov and his Indian counterpart George Fernandes in New Delhi.

The carrier, commissioned in 1988, will be delivered to India by 2008, Ivanov said.

The deal includes a dozen MiG-29K Fulcrum jet fighters.