Russia will hand over the nuclear-powered Akula class attack submarine, the Nerpa, to the Indian Navy “by the end of January,” a source in the United Shipbuilding Corporation said on Friday.

He made the statement in response to Russian media reports that the boat was to he handed over on January 19 as projected earlier.

“The Nerpa will be delivered to the Indian Navy by the end of the month but not on January 19. India has agreed on the acceptance and the boat is completely ready to be handed over,” he said.

India will become only the sixth operator of nuclear submarines in the world when it takes delivery of the Nerpa, after the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China, though it previously leased another Russian submarine which was then returned.

Twenty sailors died on the Nerpa in 2008 after the boat’s fire-suppression systems were accidentally triggered during sea trials, releasing toxic gases.