Mega military exercise between India and Russia not to be taken from the Dokalam standoff: Russia

New Delhi: Russia on Thursday said that Mega’s military exercises with India will not have anything to do with the doklam standoff between India and China.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Maria Jharova said in Moscow, “The Russian Federation does not hold any military exercises or any other program with collaborative projects in relation to tension between those countries, with whom it has diverse and multifaceted relations. ”

Jakharova was reacting to the reports that came in the western media, in which the practice in October is being associated with the Dokalam deadlock between India and China. Jharova said that it is inappropriate to link military-exercise with doklam standoff.

The spokesman assured that India and China would soon find mutually acceptable ways to reduce the tension.

India and Russia will hold a mega war game in October involving their armies, navies and the air forces for the first time to further ramp up military ties. The exercise Indra, which will be held in Russia from October 19 to 29, will primarily focus on achieving coordination between forces of the two countries in a tri- services integrated theatre command scenario. “We have been holding annual bilateral military exercises since 2005, and naval exercises have been taking place since 2007.