RUSSIAN-INDIAN ARMS TRADE TO DOUBLE IN 1996.

The deputy head of the Russian state arms trading company, Rosvooruzheniye, said yesterday that the value of military and technical cooperation between Moscow and New Delhi this year would total $3.5 billion, more than twice last year’s amount. Stanislav Filin said that five large-scale contracts were to be signed this year and that a long-term program of cooperation between the two countries through the end of this century could amount to between $7 billion and $8 billion. That program, he said, includes direct supplies of Russian armaments, upgrading of military hardware supplied earlier to India, the granting of licenses for military production, and the construction of facilities for repair of Russian-made equipment. Filin emphasized that India would pay for the weaponry primarily with hard currency, unlike during the Soviet period when Moscow often extended loans to India or accepted barter in repayment. Filin also claimed that recent Russian arms sales to China, with whom India fought a brief war in 1962, had not disturbed New Delhi. (4)

Russia and EU Clash Over Textile Quotas.