NEW DELHI:
Soldiers from the Indian army have landed in Russia for a week-longmilitary exercise, India’s defence ministry said on Thursday, days afterthe United States said it had concerns about any country exercising withRussia now.
The Indian government said that its forces have regularly participated inmultilateral exercises in Russia, along with a number of other countries.Russia is the biggest supplier of military hardware to India.
An Indian Army contingent “arrived at the exercise location and over thenext seven days will undertake joint manoeuvres to include joint fieldtraining exercises, combat discussions, and firepower exercises”, theIndian defence ministry said in a statement.
Moscow announced in late July that it would hold the “Vostok” (East)exercise in the east of the country, despite waging a six-month-long war inUkraine, where it has suffered heavy losses of personnel and equipment.China, Belarus, Mongolia and Tajikistan are the other participants.
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The United States, which has deepened its military partnership with Indiain recent years, has indicated its discomfort with Indian troops joiningthe exercise in Russia.
“The United States has concerns about any country exercising with Russiawhile Russia wages an unprovoked, brutal war against Ukraine,” White HousePress Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Tuesday.
