The Nerpa, under the command of an Indian crew, left its
base on Russia's Pacific coast earlier this week, bound for an Indian naval
base, Interfax news agency quoted a source in Russia's military-industrial
complex as saying.
Citing a source in Russia's Pacific Fleet, RIA news
agency said the submarine was manned by a mixed Russian-Indian crew.
Another RIA report, citing the plant that built the
Nerpa, said the submarine had not yet been officially handed over to India. It
said the Indian crew was only training aboard the Nerpa at sea.
Russia's Defense Ministry and navy could not be
immediately reached for comment. The press service of the Pacific Fleet
declined to give any details.
The Nerpa is the latest of a class of attack submarines
codenamed "Akula" by NATO, which are armed with torpedoes and cruise missiles.
Building of the Nerpa began in 1993 but the submarine was only launched and
started sea trials in 2008 due to the piecemeal funding of its construction.
In November 2008 the submarine was on sea trials when its
fire extinguishing system switched on unexpectedly. Twenty people died after
inhaling the toxic gas used as a fire suppressant, authorities said.
The accident was the deadliest to hit Russia's navy since
2000, when the Kursk nuclear submarine sank beneath the Barents Sea, killing
all 118 sailors on board.
Quoting its source in the fleet, RIA said that since
January the Nerpa had made a voyage to Russia's Kamchatka peninsula, after
which the plant that built it and other specialists "reduced its
underwater noise to a minimum".
He also said the vessel's maneuverability deep underwater
had been improved. "After the nuclear submarine was brought in line with
all Western standards, a submarine crew arrived from India," he said.
India,
Russia's close economic and political partner since Soviet days, accounted for
a quarter of Moscow's arms exports last year, according to estimates by the
Center for Analysts of Strategies and Technologies, a Moscow-based defense
think-tank.
