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| India-Pakistan |
| Play, not game, for Peter the Great |
| 2009-01-31 |
| New Delhi, Jan. 30: A high-profile India-Russia naval war game has morphed into Goan beach parties for the Russian sailors after it was suddenly scaled down with the two countries pulling out ships and a submarine that were to participate in it. The latest edition of the Indra (short for India and Russia) series of naval exercises was to start on January 26 and conclude today. The war game was to take place off the west coast and the Russian ships were to converge in Goa at the end. The two navies were expected to practise maritime law enforcement, counter-piracy and anti-smuggling drills. Instead, only one Russian ship, albeit its largest non-carrier vessel from its Northern Fleet, the nuclear-powered Pyotr Velikiy (Peter the Great), had an elementary passage exercise with the INS Delhi, a destroyer from the Indian Navy, for a few hours before it sailed into Mormugao. The Russian sailors, tired from a long voyage from South Africa, began "resting and recuperating" in a beach resort. Goa is a favourite destination for Russians. The Indra exercises began in 2003. Though much of the Indian Navy's inventory is of Russian origin, the operational practices of the two forces are divergent. Indeed, the Indian and US navies have developed a far greater capability to carry out sophisticated war games in the last eight years. This year, India and the US have drawn up a series of even more complex joint drills. A senior naval officer said the war game was scaled down after the Russians pulled out one of the major vessels in the six-ship flotilla from its Northern and Pacific fleets citing technical reasons. The Admiral Vinogradov, an Udalok-class missile and anti-submarine destroyer that set sail from Russia's Pacific Fleet base in Vladivostok on December 9, was pulled out of the drill along with its support tugboats and tankers. An Indian Navy officer said the Russians cited "technical difficulties" and also offered to host another set of drills off the east African coast where the Vinogradov has been engaged in anti-piracy patrols. Partly disappointed, the Indian Navy, that was not keen on Indra 2009 in any case because it is actively engaged or deployed for its own war games since 26/11, also pulled out a frontline frigate (imported from Russia), a submarine and helicopters that it had planned to use for Indra 2009. Although the Indian Navy is wary about mentioning it, it is aware that in 2004 the nuclear-powered Peter the Great had developed such problems that a former Russian navy chief feared "it could explode at any moment". |
| Posted by:john frum |