The Russian Navy is set to participate in the upcoming AMAN-2021 drills,which is staged by Pakistan and expected to attract dozens of participants.The rare event could bring together China, Japan and some of the NATOcountries.

The biannual naval exercise is scheduled to take place off Karachi betweenFebruary 11-16, 2021. The drills will focus on fighting piracy andotherwise ensuring unimpeded navigation.On Thursday, Russia’s Black SeaFleet confirmed its participation following a meeting via a video link. Afrigate, a patrol boat, a support vessel, as well as a marine unit andnaval helicopter attached to the fleet will be sent to join the drills.

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*“Representatives of more than 30 countries confirmed their participationin the exercise, of which about 10 will dispatch naval vessels while therest will send in official observers,”* Russian military saidlink ina statement without revealing which other guest nations will send in theirships.

Pakistan has been hosting AMAN drills biannually since 2007. It is a rarenaval event in that it does not exhibit any bloc mentality, at timesbringing together countries that do not exactly enjoy cozy relationships.

The drills’ organizers have repeatedly invited China, Japan and Australia,as well as some NATO member states, including the US, the UK and Turkey.Naval vessels from Russia and the US met at the exercise back in 2017 in arare cooperative event between Moscow and NATO, which have otherwise seentheir relations go in a downward spiral for the past few years.

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