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Russia, India agree to strengthen contacts within military-technical cooperation

Defense ministers of Russia and India will maintain telephone contacts every three months to control implementation of instructions given within the commission on military-technical cooperation

NEW DELHI, January 21. /TASS/. Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said on Wednesday he agreed with his Indian counterpart Manohar Parrikar to talk by telephone every three months over carrying out instructions within military-technical cooperation.

“We agreed that we would strengthen our contacts during the year,” Shoigu said after the 14th session of the intergovernmental commission on military-technical cooperation.

“We’ll maintain telephone contacts every three months to control the implementation of the instructions, which were given within the Russian-Indian intergovernmental commission on military-technical cooperation,” he said.

Sources in the Indian Defense Ministry earlier told TASS that future military technical cooperation between India and Russia depends on implementation of the joint project of a fifth generation fighter jet — FGFA. In 2014, the project came under criticism from the Indian air force command who said that Russia was unlikely to be able to fulfill all of its liabilities under the project.

According to different sources, other joint projects include a medium-lift transport jet, production of jointly developed BrahMos ultrasonic missiles, and production of Ka-226T helicopters in India.