NEW DELHI, December 2 (RIA Novosti, Larisa Sayenko) - The Indian navy will deploy the Admiral Gorshkov, an aircraft carrier bought from Russia, in the first half of 2008, Indian newspaper The Hindu reported Friday citing a senior naval commander.

Madanjit Singh said the ship had being undergoing modernization since the $1.5-billion deal with Russia was sealed in 2004, and some of the equipment installed had been produced by Indian manufacturers. The ship is currently docked at Severodvinsk in the White Sea, northern Russia, where work on the ship is still being carried out.

Under the intergovernmental agreement signed in New Delhi in January 2004, the body of the vessel was given to India free of charge on the condition that it would undergo modernization work at the Sevmash base in Severodvinsk, and be equipped with carrier-based MiG-29K Fulcrum fighters.