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Adm Verma, who visited the aircraft carrier
for which India has agreed to pay $2.34 billion,
returned to India July 18, a navy press release
said.
He had gone to the Sevmash shipyard and taken
a tour of Gorshkov, a 45,000 tonne warship of
the Kiev class that has already been rechristened
INS Vikramaditya by the Indian Navy.
Apart from the shipyard, the navy chief also
visited Vladivostok, Moscow, St. Petersburg and
Kaliningrad.
"Admiral Verma took an extensive tour of
Vikramaditya on his visit to the Sevmash Shipyard,
where he observed that significant progress had
been made and the ship was shaping up well for
the preliminary sea trials," the release
said.
During his visit to Kaliningrad, he reviewed
the progress of the Talwar class follow-on frigates,
under construction at the Yantar shipyard. He
was reassured that the first ship INS Teg would
commence trials shortly and be delivered in six
to eight months, it said.
The admiral made a first hand assessment of all
projects and held vital discussions with officials
at the highest leadership levels of the Russian
armed forces and defence industry.
"Reviewing ongoing projects, he observed
that they were progressing satisfactorily and
had reached critical stages of maturity. He also
expressed satisfaction with the quality of construction
and repairs," the release added.
In his discussions with the Russian Navy commander-in-chief
on operational exchanges between the two navies,
they agreed that the Indra naval war exercises
series formed an important aspect of their bilateral
relationship, and would need to be continued and
extended in scope and participation.
They also discussed possible avenues of co-operation
including anti-piracy operations, the release
said.
(IANS)
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