Article Posted on : - Oct 03, 2013

NEW DELHI (PTI): Defence Minister A K Antony's proposed visit to Russia has been put off where the two sides were expected to finalise several important deals including a proposal to procure over 200 T-90 tanks from there.

The meeting of the Indo-Russian Inter-governmental Commission on Military Technical Cooperation (IR-IGCMTC) is held every year alternately in India and Russia where future cooperation in defence matters between the two sides is decided.

The visit of the minister has been put off and new dates are being finalised for the meeting, Defence Ministry officials said here.

He was scheduled to lead a high-level delegation comprising Defence Secretary R K Mathur, DG Acquisition S B Agnihotri and senior members of the armed forces for the meeting to be held on October 18.

During the meeting, the two sides were expected to discuss a number of deals including the issues relating to the ongoing Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA), being developed by Russia jointly with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).

Russian-origin equipment forms over 60 per cent of the inventory in the three Services due to the strong long-standing military ties between the two sides.