India & China in Russian War Games

• 19 Aug 2022

Why in News?

Indian and Chinese troops will take part in military exercises in Russia at the end of August 2022, the first such major war games (military drills) to be hosted by Russia since its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

• While there was no comment from the Ministry of External Affairs of India, the Chinese Defence Ministry said the exercise is ‘unrelated’ to the regional conditions.

What do we need to know about the Military Drill?

• Led by host Russia, the drill will include troops from India, Belarus, Mongolia, Tajikistan and other countries besides China.
• The drill, which will be held between 30th August 2022 to 5th September 2022 at various military facilities in Russia.
  • It is likely to be closely tracked globally given the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.
• The drills will bring together the airborne forces, long-range and military transport aircraft and also military contingents of other countries.

What are India’s Exercises with China & Russia?

• China:
  • Exercise Hand-in-Hand:
    • The aim of the exercise is to practice joint planning and conduct of counter terrorist operations in semi urban terrain.
• Russia:
  • Exercise Indra:
    • The exercise will entail the conduct of counter terror operations under the United Nations mandate by a joint force against international terror groups.
    • The INDRA series of exercises began in 2003 and was conducted as a bilateral naval exercise alternately between the two countries.
      • However, the first joint Tri-Services Exercise was conducted in 2017.
  • Exercise TSENTR:
    • Exercise TSENTR 2019 is part of the annual series of large-scale exercises that form part of the Russian Armed Forces' annual training cycle.
    • The series rotates through the four main Russian operational strategic commands i.e Vostok (East), Zapad (West), TSENTR (Centre) and Kavkas (South).

Source: TH