Defence Minister A K Antony on Wednesday expressed India’s concern at Russia’s delay of upgrading the aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov, and discussed other “contentious” issues relating to Indo-Russo arms deals.

Antony said the delay in upgrading Admiral Gorshkov and a hitch in the “life cycle support” of other Russian made military hardware were a problem. “These are only some of the issues causing concerns among us.

They have been discussed at various levels and some convergence has been achieved on some issues,” Antony said at the 7th session of the Indo-Russian Inter-governmental Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation (IRIGC MTC).

He also issued a warning to Russia that it may lose arms tenders in future if it failed to fulfil the “integrity” clause under the Indian defence acquisition policy adopted in 2006.

“It has been our endeavour to ensure greatest amount of transparency in our defence acquisitions, and there is a requirement of integrity, and like any bidder you have to prove this. But I also understand that you also have your own regulations,” Antony said.

Russia’s Mikoyan Gurevich  aircraft company is also in the race to grab India’s tender of 126 multirole jet-fighters.

Antony also said that over the decades, Indo-Russo arms deals has changed from a “buyer-seller” relation to a “joint developer” of advanced weapons systems.

“The Sukhoi-30 MKI jet, T-90 C tanks, BrahMos cruise missiles and a fifth generation fighter aircraft project are some the examples of this changed relationship,” Antony said. Antony further said that there was a political consensus in India to nurture defence relationship with Russia as part of a declaration signed in 2002 when President Vladimir Putin visited New Delhi.

“Russia is the only country with which India has such elaborate and institutionalised mechanism,” Antony said.

Moreover, the Russian defence minister Anatoly Serdyukov assured the Indian side that Russia attaches great importance to the development of defence ties with India.