Article Posted on : - Oct 07, 2010

NEW DELHI (PTI): India and Russia will revive the joint military exercise series that focuses on counter- terrorism training.

The 'Indra-2010' will be held in Chaubattia in Uttarakhand between October 15 and 24, Defence Ministry officials said here Wednesday.

The battalion-level exercise will comprise of infantry troops from both the armies who would work out insurgency and terrorism situations and plan and execute an operation to counter these, particularly in a mountainous terrain, they said.

Other elements from both the armies include observers, air elements and representatives from the Defence Ministries of both countries.

The Russian complement would include 257 personnel and the Indian side will be represented by an infantry battalion.

"Indra-2010 is intended to enhance the defence cooperation and military-to-military relations between the two armies," they added.

The first of the 'Indra' exercise series was conducted in India in October 2005 and the second was held in Russia in 2007. Since then the two armies have not held an exercise under the series for the last three years.

The Indo-Russian Army exercise comes in the wake of an inter-governmental commission for military and technical cooperation headed by the Defence Ministers of both the countries meeting in Delhi Thursday.

Indian Defence Minister A K Antony and his Russian counterpart Anatoly Serdyukov will meet here to discuss defence relations, buying and selling of military hardware and cooperation in military technologies.