Russian ground forces will hold seven international drills in 2016, including the first ever military exercises with Pakistan, TASS Russian News Agency reported. "As part of interaction with our foreign colleagues in 2016, we have scheduled seven joint exercises with the involvement of the relevant units of foreign states. The Army will hold the Russian-Vietnamese exercise and the first ever Russian-Pakistani special drills in a mountainous terrain," Army Commander-in-Chief Oleg Salyukov said. Also, joint anti-terror command and staff exercises of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation will be held, he said.

"The Peace Mission - 2016, the joint drills of peace-keeping forces of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation codenamed Indestructible Brotherhood, the Frontier-2016 joint command and staff drills, the Indra-2016 Russian-Indian exercises and the Selenga-2016 Russian-Mongolian drills will be held," the commander said.

It is pertinent to mention here that in November 2014, Pakistan and Russia signed a milestone military co-operation pact aimed at bringing peace and stability to the region. The agreement was signed during a visit by Russian Defence Minister General Sergei Shoigu with Pakistani defence minister Khawaja Asif. Both expressed hope that the agreement will pave the way for exchange of views and information, as well as issues related to strengthening of mutual trust and international security, counter-terrorist and arms control activities. In June 2014, Russia had lifted its embargo on arms supplies to Pakistan.

Copyright News Network International, 2016