The delay in the refitting of aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov and a range of bilateral issues came up for discussion when Defence Minister A K Antony on Thursday met Russian vice premier Sergei Ivanov in Moscow [Images].

Although further details were not available, it is believed that the two leaders discussed problems in the ongoing defence projects.

The meeting Antony and Ivanov, who up to March was co-chair of Indo-Russian intergovernmental commission in his past capacity as defence minister, comes ahead of next months Indo-Russian summit in Moscow.

Ivanov, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin [Images] and one of his likely successors, looks after the industries, including military-industrial complex in the government.

According to the Russian sources, Ivanov, who has been acting Kremlin's pointman for liaison with the South Block since Putin came to power, has political clout to resolve some of the problems, mostly caused by the perpetual reorganization of the defence industry since the Soviet collapse in 1991.

Antony is returning to India on Friday after four-day visit during which he co-chaired the 7th session of the IRIGC, the steering body for the defence cooperation programme till 2010.