Russia-China Joint Naval Drills

• 24 Dec 2022

Why in News?

• Recently, Russia and China have begun a joint naval exercise in the East China Sea.

What are the Key Points of the Exercises?

• It involves firing exercises and anti-submarine drills.
• The main goal of the drills is to strengthen naval cooperation between the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China and to maintain peace and stability in the Asia Pacific region.
• This joint exercise is directed at demonstrating the determination and capability of the two sides to jointly respond to maritime security threats and further deepen the China-Russia comprehensive new-era strategic partnership of coordination.
• Russia and China have also engaged in frequent military drills over the past year, including in May 2022 when the two countries flew nuclear-capable bombers.
• That was followed with a sweeping joint exercise in September 2022 that involved more than 2,000 Chinese troops, hundreds of military vehicles, combat aircraft and warships.

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