Security-related issues and price escalation of military systems contracted by India will feature prominently on National Security Adviser MK Narayanan?s agenda during his two-day Moscow visit starting Tuesday.

Narayanan will meet Russian defence minister Anatoly Serdyukov and his counterpart Valentin Sobolev, acting secretary of the National Security Council, to voice the government?s concerns on the price escalation and delays being caused by the Russian side in the delivery of systems contracted by the Indian armed forces.

According to senior defence ministry officials, Russia?s demand for a price hike in two big-ticket deals?aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov and Sukhoi Su-30MKI combat jets?is proving to be difficult.

Even as the two countries are preparing for a summit-level meeting between Prime minister Manmohan Singh and Russian President Vladmir Putin early next year, the issue of price hikes and delays has now become a major irritant in the Indo-Russian defence relations.

According to sources, Russia is reported to have asked for an additional $113 million for refurbishing Gorshkov, which India purchased for $1.5 billion. The contract does not contain a price escalation clause. Due to lack of funds, work on the carrier has stopped at Russia?s Sevmash shipyard and this has pushed back the delivery of the vessel from 2008 to 2012.

According to reports, at the time of signing of the deal in 2004, Vladimir Pastukhov, director-general of Sevmash, the Russian agency involved in the overhauling, had expressed doubts on whether the overhaul costs could be met at the price negotiated by India.

In the case of the Su-30 combat fighters, Russia is believed to have asked for a 5% increase in the cost of an additional 40 planes that India wants to purchase as well as for the 138 that are to be manufactured here under licence.

India is agreeable to only a 2.5% hike. The price hikes were discussed when an Indian delegation led by the then defence secretary Shekhar Dutt visited Moscow in May. A Russian team was in New Delhi earlier this month to continue the negotiations.

Narayanan?s visit, which is the third high-level engagement on the price issue between the two countries in recent months, comes ahead of defence minister AK Antony?s visit to Moscow later this year. Antony will be in Moscow in October for the annual meeting of the inter-governmental commission on military cooperation.