ASEAN and Russia work together through the idea to conduct joint navy drills.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Russia are actively working through the idea to conduct joint navy drills, Russian Ambassador to Vietnam Konstantin Vnukov has said in an interview with the Russian Press Agency Sputnik.

Russian Navy stealth patrol vessel Vasily Bykov (368) Project 22160.  (Picture source Russian MoD)

In November 2019, Russia's then-Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev proposed that ASEAN and Russia hold a joint navy exercise.

"Perhaps, the head of the Russian Federation's government put forward the initiative to hold Russia-ASEAN navy drills last November not without reason. There are active negotiations on the matter, and, highly important, the mood is positive," Vnukov said.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a regional intergovernmental organization comprising ten countries in Southeast Asia, which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, security, military, educational, and sociocultural integration among its members and other countries in Asia.

ASEAN also regularly engages other countries in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond. A major partner of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, ASEAN maintains a global network of alliances and dialogue partners and is considered by many as a global powerhouse, the central union for cooperation in Asia-Pacific, and a prominent and influential organization. It is involved in numerous international affairs, and hosts diplomatic missions throughout the world. The ASEAN Secretariat is located at Jakarta, Indonesia.

Cooperation in the ASEAN defense sector has grown steadily since its inception in 2006. Work in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR), in particular, has been progressing at a significant pace. The ASEAN Defence Ministers adopted various concept papers to advance cooperation in HADR. Follow-up workshops on the ASEAN Defence Establishments and CSOs Cooperation in Non-Traditional Security and on the Use of ASEAN Military Assets and Capacities in HADR as well as a Table-Top Exercise on HADR were subsequently conducted in view of implementing these initiatives.

Similarly, cooperation in the area of peacekeeping operations and defense industry has moved apace with the adoption of the Concept Paper on the Establishment of ASEAN Peacekeeping Centres Network and on ASEAN Defence Industry Collaboration by the 5th ADMM in 2011. Initiatives on establishing ASEAN Defence Interaction Programme and an ADMM Logistics Support Framework were also adopted by the 7th ADMM in 2013.