India and Russia have agreed to expand joint exercises to further bolster the operational synergy between the two forces, according to a statement by India’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) on Thursday.
"Both nations have conducted numerous joint exercises across land, air and sea domains. Exercises such as INDRA, AVIA INDRA and INDRA NAVY, have served as vital platforms for sharing best practices, refining joint operational tactics drills and procedures, and deepening mutual understanding," it said.
The statement was issued after the successful conclusion of the fourth meeting of the Working group on military cooperation of the India-Russia intergovernmental commission on military and military-technical сooperation in Moscow. The previous meeting of the group under the government-to-government mechanism was held in New Delhi in July.
"The working group emphasised the importance of continued knowledge-sharing and collaboration in areas of strategic interest," MoD stated.
From the Indian side, the meeting was co-chaired by Lieutenant General JP Mathew, Chief of Integrated Defence Staff (IDS). The Russian delegation in the meeting was led by Lieutenant General Dylevsky Igor Nikolaevich, Deputy Chief of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces.
The meeting comes ahead of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh's visit to Russia next month to co-chair, along with Russian Defence Minister Andrey Belousov, a session of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military Technical Cooperation (IRIGC-MTC), which is the primary mechanism to advance bilateral defence cooperation between the two nations.