VLADIVOSTOK, September 5. /TASS/. Russia has addressed India with a proposal for building six non-nuclear submarines under an inter-governmental agreement without holding a bidding context, the chief of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, Dmitry Shugayev, told the media on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum on Thursday.

"We are discussing with them [the Indian side] the issue of creating a submarine fleet. One of their projects is creation of six submarines with an air independent propulsion system. Originally they declared a bidding context, but we have proposed exclusive terms and are persuading our counterparts to do this on the basis of an inter-governmental agreement," Shugayev said.

Russia’s proposal relies on its vast experience in the naval sphere. "I do hope that we will achieve understanding. Firstly, it will be less costly and certainly much faster. Also, India will acquire new competences in submarine building which it lacks at the moment," he added.

Russia has offered to India its non-nuclear submarines Amur-1650, designed by the Central Design Bureau for Marine Engineering Rubin (an affiliate of the United Shipbuilding Corporation). According to the designers, the submarine may be configured at the customer’s request to carry cruise missiles Club-S (an export equivalent of the missile Kalibr-PL) or cruise missiles BrahMos of Russian-Indian manufacture.

Currently, the Indian Navy has nine Russia-built diesel-electric submarines of project 877EKM.

The 5th Eastern Economic Forum is being held in Vladivostok on September 4-6. The foundation Roscongress is its organizer, and TASS is the general information partner, official photo host and moderator of the zone of presentations of the Far East’s innovative opportunities.