Russian Army to hold first mountain drills with Pakistan in 2016

Seven joint exercises with the involvement of the relevant units of foreign states will be held

Russian ground forces will hold the first ever military exercises with Pakistan in 2016, Russian Army Commander-in-Chief Oleg Salyukov announced on Friday, according to TASS news agency.

"As part of interaction with our foreign colleagues in 2016, we have scheduled seven joint exercises with the involvement of the relevant units of foreign states. The Army will hold the Russian-Vietnamese exercise and the first ever Russian-Pakistani special drills in mountainous terrain," Salyukov said.



Further, he said that joint anti-terror command and staff exercises of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation will be held.

"The Peace Mission - 2016, the joint drills of peace-keeping forces of the Collective Security Treaty Organization code-named Indestructible Brotherhood, the Frontier-2016 joint command and staff drills, the Indra-2016 Russian-Indian exercises and the Selenga-2016 Russian-Mongolian drills will be held," the commander added.

A Russian delegation on Thursday arrived in Pakistan to discuss the sale of military hardware.

According to a statement by ISPR, a meeting was held between the delegation which was led by Fomin Alexander Vasilyevich, Director of Federal Service for Military – Technical Cooperation of the Russian Federation (FSMTC) and Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif at General Headquarters.



The focus of the discussion was on enhanced security and training cooperation measures to further expand joint military ties between the two armies, the statement revealed.

Further, Vasilyevich acknowledged the achievements of Pakistan Army in its ongoing fight against terrorism and the measures taken for bringing regional peace and stability.

Pakistan in August last year, signed an agreement with Russia to purchase MI-35 ‘Hind’ attack helicopters.