Russia & CIS

There is much room for improvement of Azerbaijani-Croatian cooperation, said Croatia’s President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic during an expanded meeting with her Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev in Baku Oct. 24.

The Russian Aerospace Forces operation in Syria has revealed some constructional deficiencies in the Russian military equipment, the Minister of Defence Sergey Shoygu said. Before that the Russian Defence Minister Shoygu reported that Russian state-of-the-art weapon had showed its reliability and efficiency in course of operation in Syria

"If the US, contrary to common sense and painful to itself experience, still takes the path of further expansion of sanctions, I assure you, there are moves in our arsenal that will be quite painful. First of all, it relates to the US position in the world and US policy for Russia and the European sector on the whole," senior Russian official said

Russia and India signed a major arms deal on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Goa this past weekend. The deal included four major components.

First, India becomes the second country after China to receive S-400 long-range air defense missiles. The agreement is for Russia to provide either 4 or 5 S-400 battalions to India. (Russian sources report the lower number, while Indian sources went with the higher one.) While a contract has not yet been signed, Russia signed a contract with China in 2014 to export four battalions for approximately $2 billion. The first systems are expected to be delivered in 2020.

Second, the two sides signed an agreement for India to purchase four Project 11356 (Admiral Grigorovich class) frigates. This agreement resolves the saga of the Project 11356 frigates that were originally ordered for Russia’s Black Sea Fleet but could not be completed after Ukraine refused to provide turbines for the ships in the aftermath of the 2014 conflict in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine. An agreement has been reached for Ukraine to provide the turbines for the ships as long as they are exported to India. According to Alexey Nikolsky of Vedomosti, one of the three ships will be completed at Yantar, while the hulls of the other two will be transferred to India and completed there. In addition, a fourth ship will be built entirely in India. The BMPD blog states that two ships will be completed in Russia and two built in India. It should be noted that India already operates six frigates of this type, which it calls the Talwar class. The total value of this agreement may be around $3 billion, which may include Russian assistance in the modernization of the HSL shipyard in India.

Third, the two sides signed an agreement for India to lease an inactive Akula-class multi-purpose nuclear submarine. India is already leasing a submarine of this class from Russia, the INS Chakra (formerly known as the Nerpa), which has been in the Indian Navy since 2012. Although the specific submarine to be leased was not mentioned, Russian contacts report that it is likely to be one of the Northern Fleet submarines currently being overhauled at Zvezdochka (Samara or Bratsk), rather than the hull that has been sitting incomplete at the Amur shipyard since the mid-1990s and has in the past been mentioned as a possible candidate for leasing to India. The agreement noted that the submarine is expected to be refurbished and modernized prior to transfer. Given the Indian Navy’s experience with the modernization of the INS Vikramaditya, I wonder what provisions about delays and cost overruns the Indian side will include in the contract.

This agreement signals that India has given up on leasing or buying a Yasen-class submarine. As I have indicated previously, Russia was most likely unwilling to provide its most advanced submarine to India, either because of its capabilities or because constraints on the number of Yasen-class submarines that can be built in Russia would mean that providing such a submarine to India would result in delays in the procurement of Yasen submarines for the Russian Navy.

Finally, Rosoboronexport, Russian Helicopters, and the Indian company HAL have agreed to create a joint venture for the production of Ka-226T helicopters. According to the BMPD blog, the venture will buy 60 helicopters from Russian Helicopters and then assemble an additional 140 in Bangalore under license.

According to Konstantin Makienko of CAST, the total value of these four agreements is likely to substantially exceed $6 billion. The agreements show that although India has sought to diversify its suppliers for military equipment, it will continue to have a strong relationship with Russia in this field, particularly when it comes to hardware that it cannot receive from other suppliers (such as nuclear submarines and long-range air defense missiles).

 

 

The EU Special Representative for South Caucasus and Crisis in Georgia Herbert Salber will pay a visit to Azerbaijan next week.

Cloudy weather will prevail in Baku and Absheron peninsula on October 20.

The next plenary meeting of the Azerbaijani Parliament will be held on October 28.

Anti-terrorist police arrested 20 Daesh suspects in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir on Wednesday, a police official said.

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has attended the opening of “Birinci Şıxlı Farm” LLC in Qazakh.

The NPP management stressed that the smoke did not spread outside the room and did not affect the work of the power unit’s equipment.

An Iranian Navy flotilla, including the home-made Damavand destroyer and a missile-armed vessel, dubbed Joshan, arrived in Baku October 19.

Ecuador has explained the reason of cutting off Assange's Internet.

12 more countries are candidate for membership to the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB).

Opening of Qazakh-Kosalar highway after reconstruction has been held today.

OSCE will hold a monitoring on the confrontation line of Azerbaijani and Armenian armed forces.

The results of the council of elder’s elections in Gyumri and Vanadzor towns are still discussed in various formats within the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), according to Zhoghovurd newspaper.

The government of Japan is working on new proposals to Russia in the Kuril Islands, APA reports quoting Japan media.

Turkish police shot dead a suspected Islamic State militant who was believed to be planning a suicide bomb attack in the capital Ankara, Anadolu Agency reported on Wednesday.

Armenian armed units violated ceasefire a total of 13 times throughout the day, using large caliber machine guns.