Extracts.
India, Russia Sign Sweeping Arms Deals, Defense
Accord
India signed a series of multi-million
dollar arms contracts with Russia Wednesday
to acquire frontline tanks, fighter jets
and an aircraft carrier.
The two sides also inked a wide-ranging
accord on military and technical
cooperation and another agreement on
cooperation in "peaceful uses of nuclear
energy."
The weapons contracts involved the licensed
production in India of Sukhoi SU-30M fighters and the
export and licensed production of T-90 battle tanks.
A third contract was for a Russian aircraft carrier
named Admiral Gorchkov, which Moscow is offering for
free, with India picking up the tab for a complete
refit.
"All (the) deals were finalised and signed Wednesday
morning," said Samir Sinha, information officer at
the Indian defence ministry.
The signing of the contracts had been delayed amid
last-minute haggling over prices, and Sinha gave no
details of the final value of the deals, which
initial estimates had put at well over 1 billion
dollars.
An Indian military source said the pact on the T-90
tanks had been stalled for some time because "there
was a price differential of about 150 million
dollars," adding that New Delhi was expected to buy
about 310 tanks.
The Press Trust of India quoted unidentified
officials as saying 150 tanks would be bought
outright and the rest assembled in India under
licence. They said the deal could be more worth than
450 million dollars and the first batch of the tanks
due to arrive "in the next few months."
The Indian military source said the 30,000-tonne
aircraft carrier, Admiral Gorchkov, would cost about
750 million dollars to refurbish while its fleet arm
of MiG-29K jets would cost about 1.2 billion dollars.
India totted up a mountain of debt through its heavy
arms purchases from the former Soviet Union, and
still owes an estimated 200 billion rupees (4.5
billion dollars).
Russian equipment has continued to provide the
backbone of India's armed forces since the end of the
Cold War but recently New Delhi has been looking at
other markets in Europe and Israel.
The accord signed by Indian Defence Minister George
Fernandes and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Ilya
Klebanov envisaged the creation of an Indo-Russian
commission on military-technical cooperation.
The commission will be headed by Fernandes and
Klebanov.
The pact on the peaceful use of nuclear energy was
significant given India's difficulties in acquiring
technology transfers because of sanctions imposed
after the country's 1998 nuclear tests.
The showpiece of Indo-Russian nuclear cooperation is
the Kudankulam atomic power station being set up by
the state-run Nuclear Power Corp. in the southern
state of Tamil Nadu.
According to the terms of the agreement, all major
equipment and materials including fuel for the entire
life of the power station will be supplied by Russia.
Putin will visit India's premier nuclear research
centre during his trip to Bombay on Thursday.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Death Toll in Israeli-Palestinian Violence Rises to
66
Israeli helicopters sprayed bullets onto Palestinian
homes in the West Bank city of Hebron on Wednesday,
witnesses said, as the death toll in a week of
Israeli-Palestinian violence rose to 66.
Almost all the dead in the fighting that has swept
the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Arab Israeli towns are
Arabs.
In Paris, an Israeli official said Israeli,
Palestinian and US leaders had agreed on steps to
curb the violence.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, Palestinian
President Yasser Arafat and U.S. Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright reached an initial agreement for
Israeli troops to withdraw to positions held before
the violence started.
Palestinians in return would stay away from two
flashpoints on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
There would also be an urgent security review.
In the West Bank, witnesses said a 19-year-old
Palestinian was killed as Palestinians exchanged fire
with Israeli security forces and Jewish settlers in
the heart of Hebron. Israeli armoured troop carriers
rumbled into the edge of the divided town.
An Israeli army spokeswoman said no helicopters had
been in the area.
A 22-year-old Palestinian policemen was killed during
confrontations in the West Bank town of Tulkarm and a
second policeman died in street battles in the West
Bank city of Ramallah, Palestinian hospital sources
said.
They said a 17-year-old Palestinian youth from the
Ramallah area died of a gunshot wound to his head, as
did a 22-year-old man from the West Bank town of
Jenin, his family reported.
NINE-YEAR-OLD BOY KILLED
Earlier in the day, a nine-year old Palestinian boy
was killed in clashes with Israeli security forces at
the flashpoint Netzarim junction in the Gaza Strip.
Mohammed Abu Assi was the youngest to die in the wave
of violence that has left the Middle East peace
process in tatters.
He was shot in the chest during a battle that raged
as Israeli helicopters fired rockets at a building in
which Palestinian gunmen had taken up positions,
witnesses said.
Anti-Israeli demonstrations flared again in Egypt.
Hundreds of Egyptian demonstrators marched on the
Israeli embassy in Cairo and burned Israeli flags
outside.
In Denmark, Palestinians immigrants threw stones and
clashed with police in Copenhagen after an initially
peaceful anti-Israeli demonstration turned violent.
Thousands of Syrians stoned the U.S. embassy in
Damascus over the violence before riot police and
security forces broke up the demonstration.
The street battles in the Israeli Arab areas, West
Bank and Gaza Strip erupted last Thursday after
Israeli right-winger Ariel Sharon visited a Jerusalem
shrine holy to Muslims and Jews, an act which Arabs
said defiled the site.
Gun battles also erupted on Wednesday in the West
Bank town of Bethlehem, although no injuries were
reported.
Two hand grenades were thrown at an Israeli post in
Rafah on the border with Egypt, an Israeli army
spokeswoman said.
More violence flared in Jaffa, home to thousands of
Arabs on the edge of Tel Aviv, when Arab
demonstrators attacked television crews and beat an
Italian journalist who was taken to hospital.
In the West Bank town of Nablus, a large crowd of
Palestinians gathered at the funeral of a man killed
on Tuesday and then headed to Joseph's Tomb, a Jewish
shrine guarded by Israeli troops. Gun fights erupted
at the site, witnesses said.
Police said an Israeli bus came under fire in the
West Bank near Jerusalem and one passenger was
wounded.
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