Defense deal delay raises talk of India-Russia unease

By Bappa Majumdar

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India has agreed to pay Russia a higher price for a delayed aircraft carrier, but analysts said problems with the deal underlined growing unease between one of the world's biggest arms buyers and its most trusted supplier.

The delivery of aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov has been pushed back four years to 2012 and would cost India an additional $1.2 billion in refitting costs, Vijay Singh, India's defense secretary, told reporters late on Wednesday in New Delhi.

In 2004, India and Russia signed a $1.6 billion deal to bring the Admiral Gorshkov to India by 2008.

But the Russians have postponed delivery, citing technical problems and overhead costs, while pushing the price up to $2.7 billion.

Analysts said Russia was playing hard ball partly because it was uneasy about India's growing ties with the United States and its plans to buy more weapons from Washington.

"Clearly, the Russians do appear to be now sending a message to India," Manoj Joshi, strategic affairs editor of The Hindustan Times, wrote in his column.

"They are saying that they are not happy with Indian moves to get closer to the U.S."

India is emerging as one of the world's biggest arms buyers, and is planning one of its biggest ever arms deals, a $10 billion deal to buy 126 fighter jets.