01. MAIN
Russian President meets chess champion Viswanathan Anand
The Hindu, June 1, 2012
Russia's President Vladimir Putin has met with world chess champion Viswanathan Anand and runner-up Boris Gelfand over a cup of tea in his residence. Mr. Putin lauded both players for "an outstanding game".
Mr. Anand beat Mr. Gelfand of Israel on Wednesday 2.5-1.5 in the rapid tiebreaker that followed a 6-6 draw played at the Tretyakov Gallery, one of Russia's finest museums. Mr. Gelfand, who was born in the Soviet Union and emigrated from Belarus to Israel in 1998, was cheered throughout the match as if he were a home player. Mr. Anand told Mr. Putin over tea Thursday that he had learned to play chess in a Soviet cultural centre in his hometown when he was a child. "So we brought this on ourselves!" said Mr. Putin.
Anand felicitated at Indian Embassy in Moscow
The Ambassador of India to the Russian Federation, H.E. Mr Ajai Malhotra, and members of the Indian community felicitated World Chess Champion Vishwanathan Anand, who retained his FIDE World Chess Championship title by defeating Boris Gelfand, at a function at the Indian Embassy, Moscow, on May 31, 2012.
Heartily congratulating Vishwanathan Anand, Ambassador Malhotra said Anand had once again shown that he was the very best chess player in the world and the entire Indian community in Russia and indeed all of India rejoiced in his great victory.
Ambassador Malhotra described Anand as the best chess player of his generation and one of the all-time greats of chess. He added that Anand was a true World Champion for several reasons. A true World Champion had to have the ability to recover after being down and Anand had abundantly shown this when he bounced back after losing the seventh match in the latest Championship to win the eighth match in just seventeen moves. Click here to read more
'Four-way oil swap win-win for India-Russia'
IANS, May 21, 2012
A four-way oil swap between India, Russia, Japan and the Gulf producers would be a win-win situation for New Delhi and Moscow, a noted strategic expert said on May 21.
“Japan imports the bulk of its oil from the Gulf but this has to travel a long way. If Russia meets Japan's oil needs, what it would otherwise buy could go to India. Simultaneously, India must increase its exposure in Russia's energy sector. It'll be a win-win situation for India and Russia and the other players involved,” Prabhat Shukla, joint director of privately-funded think-tank Vivekananda International Foundation.
“In this way, India-Russia trade will also be boosted,” Shikla, a former ambassador to Russia, said in his keynote address at an international conference on “Emerging Geo-political Trends in Asia: Prospects and Challenges for India-Russia Relations”, organised by defence ministry-funded think-tank Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA).
He also felt there was greater scope for India-Russia cooperation in the areas of defence and the future of Afghanistan. Click here to read more
India, Russian sign transport plane contract
The Hindu Business Line, Bangalore, May 29
Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd on Monday signed a three-way general contract with its Russian partners for developing military transport planes. The signatories are Russia's United Aircraft Corporation - Transport Aircraft and HAL's equal joint venture with UAc - MTAL.
"The MRTA will be developed in the 15-20 tonne class jointly by Indian and Russian Agencies to meet the requirement of 100 aircraft for the Russian Air Force, 45 aircraft for the IAF and 60 for third countries. The total requirement [at] present is 205 [planes," a release said.The teams will work in tandem in Moscow and India, a HAL release here said. The aircraft will be used to transport cargo, troops; for paradropping supplies, to perform in low altitude parachute extraction system.
An inter-governmental agreement was signed a few years back to jointly design, develop and produce the MTAs. The joint venture - Multirole Transport Aircraft Ltd. - was formed among HAL, UAC-TA and Rosoboronexport. HAL will design and develop its workshare of the MRTA (multi-role transport aircraft) at the Aircraft R&D Centre, Bangalore. Its Transport Aircraft Division at Kanpur will make the prototypes and later produce the planes. HAL is setting up new facilities for the MRTA at Kanpur.
HAL’s other R&D centres and manufacturing divisions will share the works related to development of systems, LRUs and manufacture of components, sub assemblies and composite structure. Work on preliminary design will start immediately on signing the follow-up contract; The three parties have completed the discussions. "The primary objective is to achieve self-reliance in design, development and production of aircraft of this size and also to manage the programme with international collaboration and large number of global suppliers," HAL said.
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