NEW DELHI, Oct. 28.—The commander-in-chief of the Soviet force, Air Marshal Pavel Kutaknov, will arrive Friday for a six-day visit to India, it was announced today.
Defense Ministry officials denied reports that the visit was to assess India's military needs because of the present tension with Pakistan.
Despite the denials, the Soviet marshal's visit, following that of Deputy Foreign Minister Nikolai Firyubin, was seen as reflecting the increasingly close ties between India and the Soviet Union.
The Soviet Union is India's largest supplier of arms and the Indian air force has seven squadrons of Mig-21 fighters and five squadrons of Sukhoi-7 fighter-bombers.