Article Posted on : - Dec 07, 2011

NEW DELHI (PTI): India and Russia are expected to sign upto nine agreements in the fields of military, energy and trade during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Moscow next week.

Russian Ambassador Alexander Kadakin spoke about the prospects of the two countries signing seven to nine pacts at a news conference where he also said Russian Navy will "soon" hand over to India the Akula-II class nuclear submarine K-152 Nerpa to be rechristened INS Chakra.

Singh leaves for Moscow on December 15 on a three-day visit to attend the annual India-Russia Summit the next day.

"We are looking for agreement not just for units three and four but also units five and six and seven and eight and beyond," he added.

Kadakin declined to give any specific time-frame for the delivery of the nuclear attack submarine. Russian Navy chief Admiral Vladimir Vysotsky recently said the Indian crew is "now absolutely prepared" for operating the submarine which will be on a 10-year lease. The lease contract is estimated at some 900 million USD.

Elaborating on Indo-Russian Defence ties, which have been the bedrock of bilateral cooperation, Kadakin said work on development of the ambitious co-production of fifth generation fighter aircraft was proceeding well.

"Work on the aircraft is proceeding well. There are no obstacles," he added.

President Dmitry Medyvdev will head the Russian side at the summit which comes days after Sunday's Duma polls that were marred by allegations of irregularities.

The Russian Ambassador voiced concern at the low level of Indo-Russian trade for which a target of 20 billion dollars has been fixed for 2015. The current bilateral trade volume is around 10 billion dollars. In contrast, he said the trade between Russia and China was around 60 billion dollars.

Kadakin spoke in glowing terms about the state of Indo-Russian ties, saying no power on earth can stop the two countries from expanding their cooperation in various spheres.

"India is a superpower in the making," he said, adding that the two countries enjoyed a "special and privileged" partnership.

The Ambassador also expressed confidence that delays in supply of military spare parts will be sorted out by next year.