AK Antony pays tribute at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow on Wednesday. (AP)

Moscow, Oct. 17: A white fur cap over a black coat marks out India’s defence minister behind the tall guardsmen who escort him in the biting cold to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier here this morning.

In the shadow of the Kremlin, the slightly built A.K. Antony has a huge task cut out for him this Russian winter: how to give his hosts a bear hug.

For the defence minister has himself left little doubt that that precisely is his task. In the aftermath of a strategic India-US tango over the nuclear deal and muted Russian anxiety over South Block’s growing military relations with the Pentagon, Antony has much to tell the country with which India has arms contracts worth $14.5 billion.

“I expect significant breakthroughs in these talks. I am sure that this visit and the visit of the Prime Minister (Manmohan Singh) next month will emphasise that we have this kind of a relationship only with the Russians.

“It does not mean that when we are improving our relations with the US, it will be at the cost of old friendships,” said Antony even before meeting his Russian counterpart, Anatoly Eduardovich Serdyukov.

Beginning with a Tchaikovsky-like flourish, Antony decided, he must set the tone for a success that is still being crafted. When it comes to the Russians, India’s defence minister is willing to overcome shortness of stature with the belligerence of good intentions.

The ploy may not be entirely lost on the Russians. President Vladimir Putin understands the importance of grandstanding well. Last week, Russia let in a chill in talks with Condoleezza Rice here when the US secretary of state came calling to set up a missile defence system in eastern Europe.

And, only yesterday, Putin himself defied the US global campaign and visited Tehran to sit at a high table with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, an event Russian television networks cannot have enough of. Like India, Russia has supplied arms to Iran despite Washington’s frowns.

Like Putin, whose Tehran visit is gladdening the constituency of his United Russia party, Antony’s domestic compulsions are shaping his military diplomacy, too.

The Russian winter has lessons for the man from Kerala’s warm backwaters. Communists in the Opposition at home and in Russia are among the audience that ruling politicians — at home and in Russia — are addressing from the Kremlin this week.

“This visit will enhance our relations,” said Antony. “We have an inter-governmental council on military-technical cooperation at the defence minister level only with Russia. This is also the 60th year of our relations,” he repeated.

Two of the protocols that will figure in the talks that begin today are for a futuristic “fifth generation” fighter and a multi-role transport aircraft.

Antony is likely to sign a protocol committing Indian investment in the FGF project, the PAK-FA, that could at a later date compete with the American programme for a Joint Strike Fighter (F-35).