Russia and India are to sign an additional...

"The document will be signed in February-March this year," deputy service director Alexander Fomin said.

Moscow and New Delhi had been wrangling over the final cost of the project to upgrade the aircraft carrier since Russia said it had underestimated the cost of modernization, and asked for an additional $1.2 billion, an amount India called "exorbitant."

Under the original $1.5-billion 2004 contract between Russia"s state-controlled arms exporter Rosoboronexport and the Indian Navy, which includes delivery of MiG-29K Fulcrum carrier-based fighters, work on the aircraft carrier was to be completed in 2008.

In December, it was reported India would pay Russia $2.3 billion to refit the Admiral Gorshkov.

After long-running delays and disputes, India offered in February 2008 to raise the refit costs for the aircraft carrier, docked at the Sevmash shipyard in northern Russia for the past 12 years, by up to $600 million. Russia said it was not satisfied with

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