Prime Minister Manmohan Singh left for Moscow on Sunday, joining over 50 world leaders to attend the commemorative function marking the 60th anniversary of Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two.
Singh, apart from participating in Monday's function in the Russian capital, is also scheduled to hold bilateral talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
A pact to boost cooperation in sophisticated defence technologies and energy cooperation are expected to dominate the talks between the Indian Prime Minister and the Russian President.
Indian Ambassador Kanwal Sibal said on Sunday that New Delhi and Moscow were close to finalising an agreement to protect intellectual property rights (IPR) linked to joint defence research and development and to provide for the servicing of a wide array of Russian equipment used by India's armed forces.
Overall defence cooperation and India's plans to invest in Russia's oil and gas sector are expected to figure in the talks between Manmohan Singh and Putin, said Sibal.
Sibal, however, noted that "unreasonable delays" in issuing visas to Indian businessmen by Russia was becoming an "irritant" and New Delhi was keen on working with Moscow to finalise "as soon as possible" an agreement on facilitating business visas.
Russia has been insisting on the IPR pact as the two sides progress from their traditional buyer-seller relation in the defence sector to take up the joint development and marketing of sophisticated weapon systems like the BrahMos cruise missile.
Two rounds of discussions had already been held on the proposed pact and India had submitted a draft to Russia. "Though the Russians had earlier said the pact should be retrospective, they are no longer insisting on this. The other key issues are modification and upgrading Russian equipment and spares," said Sibal.
{{/usCountry}}Two rounds of discussions had already been held on the proposed pact and India had submitted a draft to Russia. "Though the Russians had earlier said the pact should be retrospective, they are no longer insisting on this. The other key issues are modification and upgrading Russian equipment and spares," said Sibal.
{{/usCountry}}He noted the first Indo-Russian joint venture to service Russian military hardware had begun functioning in India, which would also create a stock of spares.
Noting that India had invested $1.7 billion in Russia's Sakhalin-I oil and gas project, Sibal said it also had plans to pump in "a few billion dollars" in other fields like Sakhalin-III, Kurmangazi, Timan Pechora and Vankor.
"The Russians are taking these investment proposals seriously," he said, adding that India was keen on imparting a "strategic" dimension to its energy cooperation with Russia.