Russian-Indian combined exercise Indra 2016 will be held for the first time TASS 4261115

Defence & Security News - Russia
 
Russian-Indian combined exercise Indra 2016 will be held for the first time
Russian-Indian Exercise Indra 2016 will be held in Russia’s Primorsky Territory, at the Sergeyevsky Training Area, for the first time, Col. Alexander Gordeyev, spokesman for the Eastern Military District, told journalists on Thursday.
     
Russian Indian combined exercise Indra 2016 will be held for the first time 640 001Russian BTR-60 armoured vehicle personnel carrier © Yuri Smityuk/TASS archive
     
"A Russian-Indian combined exercise, Indra 2016, has for the first time been planned for the Sergeyevsky Training Area in the Primorsky Territory. The Eastern Military District will be represented in Indra 2016 by the troops from the combined-arms large unit stationed in the Primorsky Territory," Gordeyev said.

In all, the district’s personnel will participate in nine international drills in 2016, including Russian-Indian exercises Indra, Indra-Navy and Avia-Indra, with Eastern Military District aircrews to participate in the latter for the first time. In addition, Russian-Mongolian Exercise Selenga, a Russian-Vietnamese exercise, ASEAN’s peacekeeping and counterterrorist Exercise SMOA-Plus, multilateral peacekeeping Exercise Khaan Quest, Russian-Chinese naval drills Maritime Cooperation and Russian-Japanese SAREX have been planned for 2016.

The seventh Russian-Indian exercise of the Indra series - Indra 2016 - had been held from November 9 to 18 by over 500 troops from both participating nations. The event’s primary purpose was to hone the cohesion of a combined peacekeeping battalion.

For two weeks, the Russian and Indian servicemen had trained to seal off a notional area of conflict and destroy simulated illegal armed groups operating there. There had also been training in disposing of explosive ordnance and improvised explosive devices and in administering first aid.
     
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