An India-Russia joint training exercise commenced at Prudboy Ranges, Volgograd in Russia Wednesday with officials saying the exercise, codenamed INDRA 2021, will enhance interoperability between the Indian and Russian armies, especially in counterterror operations.

The aim of the exercise is to facilitate joint training between Indian and Russian armies to jointly plan and conduct counterterror operations under the United Nations mandate. The conduct of the exercise will also entail academic discussions between expert groups of both contingents.

The exercise will focus on unit-level joint planning and conduct of anti-terrorist operations and will include cordon and search operations, intelligence gathering and sharing, perception management, humanitarian laws and hostage rescue in simulated settings, an official release said.

Exercise INDRA will strengthen mutual confidence, interoperability and enable sharing of best practices between the armed forces. It will be another landmark event in the history of India-Russian defence cooperation, the release added.(SAM)