MOSCOW - Visiting Afghan Defense Minister Mohammed Fahim on Wednesday toured a Russian airfield where the latest models of combat planes are being developed.

Fahim's delegation visited the Gromov Flight Research Institute in Zhukovsky, outside of Moscow, said Andrei Kuznetsov, spokesman for the Defense Ministry. They were briefed on warplanes being developed by Russia's MiG aircraft corporation, according to the Interfax-Military News Agency.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, who met with Fahim earlier this week, said Russia was prepared to bolster Afghanistan's military capability by providing technical help and spare parts for its Soviet-built weapons. He said Russia was also ready to supply training aircraft for Afghan military pilots and transport helicopters.

Following the 1979-89 Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the Kremlin was a key arms supplier for the anti-Taliban forces in the late 1990s.

Last year, Moscow supplied an estimated dlrs 34 million worth of Soviet-era weapons to the Afghan forces fighting the Taliban.

Fahim, on a seven-day trip to Russia, has said repeatedly that he isn't looking for more weapons. However, he has said he would welcome assistance in building a national army that could fairly represent all Afghans and ensure that Afghanistan never again becomes a training ground for terrorists.

An ethnic Tajik, Fahim was a close ally of the late Northern Alliance military leader Ahmed Shah Massood. He was chosen to replace Massood after his assassination in September.

Afghan Interior Minister Younus Qanooni was due to arrive in Moscow on Friday, the 13th anniversary of the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan. But his visit has been postponed until late February, the Interfax news agency reported. Interfax also said that Afghanistan's foreign minister, Abdullah, would visit Moscow before interim Prime Minister Hamid Karzai's visit, which is tentatively scheduled for early March.