Defence Minister Antony in Russia for commissioning of INS Vikramaditya into Indian Navy

Antony will also co-chair the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission.

Defence Minister A K Antony arrived here on Friday for the commissioning of aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya on Saturday Russia’snuclear submarine building centre Sevmash Shipyard.

Antony,accompanied by a high-level delegation including Defence Secretary R K Mathur and other officials,arrived on a four-day visit to the country. Naval chief Admiral D K Joshi is already here.

The Minister will also co-chair the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military Technical Cooperation (IRIGC-MTC) with his Russian counterpart Sergey

Shoigu on Monday.

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Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin and senior government and naval officials of the two countries are also scheduled to attend the ceremony for handing over the Kiev

class carrier (formerly called Admiral Gorshkov) retrofitted and upgraded at a cost of USD 2.3 billion.

After almost nine years of negotiations,the initial USD 1.5 billion contract for retrofitting the aircraft carrier and buying 16 MiG-29K,K/UB deck-based fighters was signed in 2004.

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As India bids adieu to MiG-21s, what lies ahead for Air Force?

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