New Delhi, Oct. 15: Defence minister A.K. Antony will leave for Moscow tomorrow to re-affirm traditional military ties during a visit that will also be touted as an exemplar of Delhi’s efforts to keep security relations multilateral.

The four-day trip was scheduled much before the Left dissented on the civilian nuclear deal with America and alleged that the Manmohan Singh government was “inter-locking” India’s military with that of the US.

The Left’s campaign coincided with the five-nation naval drill with the US and its allies in Asia last month, but the defence establishment has since moved into top gear to demonstrate engagements with a number of countries, chiefly Russia and China.

An exercise with the Chinese army has been deferred and Antony’s Russia visit has become more important for precisely that reason.

Moscow is by far the largest supplier of military hardware to India. With Delhi throwing open its market to western suppliers, the traditional ally is under pressure.

The occasion of Antony’s visit is the second meeting of the year — and the seventh in the series — of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military Technical Cooperation (IRIGC). The last meeting of the IRIGC was in Delhi in January this year.

Russia is the only country with which India has such an arrangement. The current agreement runs up to 2010. Contracted acquisitions from Russia, however, will be spread over another 15 years at least.

The two sides have suggested signing a long-term deal valid beyond 2010. Negotiations are yet to start in earnest because of outstanding issues concerning supply of spares, Russia’s demand for escalated costs for contracted items and reservations among Indian armed forces over the quality of some of the equipment.

Antony will visit the Tactical Missiles Corporation, a restructured entity that has replaced the Soviet-era Zvezda-Strela State Research and Production Center.