No US officer given access to nuclear-submarine on lease from Russia: Sources

NEW DELHI: The country's defence establishment has rejected Russian media reports that India allowed US military officials on board nuclear-powered submarine INS Chakra, which has been leased from Russia for 10 years under a $900 million deal.

Though there was no official statement, sources said there was "no question" of letting US officials or "anyone else" near INS Chakra, the Akula-II class submarine inducted by the Indian Navy in April 2012, in violation of the terms of an agreement inked with Russia. "This is a disinformation campaign being carried out by some vested interests," said a source.

Interestingly, it comes at a time when New Delhi is finalising talks with Moscow to acquire another nuclear-powered submarine on lease for over $1.5 billion after it agreed to procure four Grigorivich-class stealth frigates — two will be built in India — for around $4 billion from Russia.


INS Chakra, which does not carry nuclear-tipped missiles due to international treaties, is currently undergoing repairs at its base at Visakhapatnam after there was some damage to the tiles covering the submarine's sonar dome.

A 13-member US delegation headed by Rear Admiral Brian Antonio, which came to India for a meeting of the Joint Working Group on Aircraft Carrier Technology Co-operation from October 29 to November 3, did, however, board aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya for a four-hour brief on Indian aircraft carrier operations on the high seas.

Russian news portal Kommersant on Thursday claimed the Indian Navy had permitted a US technical crew to inspect INS Chakra, saying the "unprecedented scandal" threatened "to seriously complicate the negotiations on the lease of the second nuclear submarine". But on Friday, another Russian news portal, NEWS.ru, asserted that "French lobbyists" had "an ulterior role in spreading misinformation to further their own chances of selling a nuclear-powered attack submarine to India".