New Delhi, Dec 14 (IANS): Prime Minister Manmohan Singh leaves Thursday for Moscow on a three-day visit for meetings with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who faces political unrest over allegations of vote rigging.

Tens of thousands of people have demonstrated in Moscow protesting against electoral fraud in parliamentary elections.

Evidently, the Russian leadership is keen to go ahead with this visit so as not to give wrong signals to the world.

India and Russia are slated to focus on expanding their growing ties in nuclear energy, hydrocarbons, defence and economic fields by signing over half-a-dozen agreements.

The two countries are inching closer to signing a deal on units III and IV of the Kudankulam nuclear plant in Tamil Nadu, where locals are protesting over safety concerns of the plant.

The deal is still under works. Although the formal signing may not happen during this visit, the two countries are expected to discuss the issue at the summit level.

New Delhi and Moscow are also likely to discuss ongoing defence projects such as the leasing of the Russia nuclear-powered submarine to Indian Navy for 10 years beginning 2012, joint development of the fifth generation fighter aircraft and multi-role transport aircraft, and refit of the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier that is to be delivered to Indian Navy in December 2012.

They will finalise means to achieve their target of $20 billion annual bilateral trade, which now hovers at $10 billion, before 2015.