Five days after the Russian government demanded an additional $2 billion for supplying the refurbished aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov, Russian Navy now have decided not to sell or lease the accident-hit K-152 Nerpa nuclear attack submarine to India. In a recent incident, 20 crew members were killed following a toxic gas leakage in the vessel during sea trials.

Chief of the General Staff, Army General Nikolai Makarov told a national daily that the sum of $ 650-780 million, which was negotiated with the Indian Ministry of Defence, would now be found in Russia, either within the state weapons procurement programme or somewhere else. General Makarov's statement came shortly after it was reported that Russian Navy was interested in keeping the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier in case Moscow and New Delhi fail to agree on final price of the refit of the Soviet-built vessel.

The construction of the Akula II class Nerpa nuclear attack submarine started way back in 1991, but was suspended for over a decade due to lack of funding. Later, under the larger Gorshkov package, India partially financed the construction of the submarine at the cost of USD 650 million for a 10-year lease. The 12,000-tonne Akula-II class K-152 Nerpa vessel is considered as the quietest and deadliest of all the Russian nuclear-powered attack submarines.