Moscow. Sept 27
Mrs Indira Gandhi, the Indian Prime Minister, arrived in Moscow, today for a three-day visit a few hours before Mr Brezhnev, the Soviet Communist Party leader, returned from his visit to the Balkans.

A delay in Mr Brezhnev’s arrival from Bulgaria led to the cancellation of talks Mrs Gandhi had hoped to have this afternoon with the Soviet leaders. Mr Kosygin, the Soviet Prime Minister, who met her at Vnukovo airport, returned to the airport later to greet Mr Brezhnev.

A dinner which was scheduled for tonight was also cancelled, and Mrs Gandhi was relaxing this evening at the Indian Embassy. The talks—at which Mr Brezhnev evidently wanted to be present—are due to begin tomorrow.

Since, the signing of the Soviet-Indian treaty of peace, friendship and cooperation last month, the Soviet press has been loud in its praises of Mrs Gandhi's Government, to which it had already given a generous measure of support before the treaty was signed.

Obviously Mrs Gandhi will be discussing Soviet-Indian relations in the context of the tense Indian-Pakistani relationship, the Bangla Desh crisis and the refugee problem. China cannot fail to come up, nor can United States policy in Asia. And the Russians will probably be trying to push further their idea of a “collective security” arrangement in Asia.

Among bilateral issues. Mrs Gandhi is expected to discuss the proposal for an arrangement under which huge amounts of cotton grown in Soviet Central Asia would be processed cheaply in India and returned to the Soviet Union in the form of textiles. These would help to fill the role of the cheap Chinese textiles to which Russians used to enjoy access.

Mr Brezhnev's Balkan tour, to which the Soviet press has given massive publicity, has fallen somewhat flat in the outside world because of the rumours of political changes in China and the sensational expulsions of Soviet officials from London.

Observers here believe the results of his visit to Yugoslavia —to which more attention has been devoted than to his shorter trips to Hungary and Bulgaria— will not be clearly seen tor some time to come. It is all very well to make enthusiastic speeches in Belgrade, but the test will be whether Yugoslavia is allowed to pursue its own course without Soviet pressure or interference, and whether Rumania can continue its independent foreign policy.