Russia will lease a multifunctional nuclear submarine to India for a decade in the second half of this year, the Itar-Tass news agency reported Tuesday, quoting a Russian Defense Ministry official.

The Nerpa nuclear submarine, which successfully concluded tests last December, will be handed over to India this summer or autumn, the unidentified official told Itar-Tass.

The official said Indian crew would come to Russia's military base near the far eastern port of Vladivostok to take the Nerpa on trial. "After the signing of an act of acceptance, the Nerpa will head for India," the source said.

Mikhail Dmitriev, director of the Federal Service of Military and Technical Cooperation, said in December 2008 that Russia might lease a nuclear submarine to India for 10 years.

The Nerpa, one of Russia's newest nuclear-powered submarines, had an accident during trials in the Sea of Japan in November 2008,killing 20 people and injuring 21 others. The submarine passed successfully several rounds of tests and was transferred to the Russian navy on Dec. 28, 2009.