India, China, Pakistan to participate in military exercise in Russia next month

[MenInG]

This is crazy!

==


Far away from the border hostilities, militaries of India, China and Pakistan will be carrying out drills together in Russia next month.

An Indian military contingent will take part in "Kavkaz 2020" ("Caucasus 2020"), strategic command-post exercise next month where various countries, including China and Pakistan, will also take part.

The Indian contingent would include around 180 troops and officers from across infantry, artillery, mechanised, and armoured forces along with Special Forces, air defence and signals. The contingent would also include personnel from the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force (IAF).

Sources said China is sending an army contingent and three ships as part of its naval deployment to the exercise.

The exercise to be held next month will include 19 counties including host Russia where over 12,500 troops will participate.

Other than the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) members, that include India, China, Pakistan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, 11 other countries will be part of the exercise. The other nations included in the drills are Mongolia, Syria, Iran, Egypt, Belarus, Turkey, Armenia, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan.

The exercise will be held in Astrakhan region of South Russia between September 15 and 26.

The aim and scope of the exercise is to improve cooperation. The idea is for militaries to prepare for joint action with units of armies of foreign states.

All participating nations will be required to strictly follow Covid-19 protocols. After a Covid test, the participants will spend 14 days preceding the departure in quarantine and will be tested again on arrival in Russia.

The joint exercise is of immense significance as it comes amid the over three-month-long standoff between India and China at the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Despite several levels of dialogue, there has not been a breakthrough and the deadlock continues.

There have been several clashes between Indian and Chinese troops without the use of firearms and 20 Indian soldiers were killed in one of such melees in Galwan on June 15. There were casualties on the Chinese side but those were not made public by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China.

Other than the tensions with China, Indian and Pakistani armies have been involved in frequent skirmishes at the Line of Control (LoC).

https://www.indiatoday.in/india/sto...rcise-in-russia-next-month-1714685-2020-08-25

 

[gani999]

Not very surprising actually.

Behind all the enemity, Indian and Pakistani Army officers are actually quite chummy. It must be the same with the Chinese.

I'm sure they'll all party together in Russia, once the boom-boom games get over for the day.

 

[sweep_shot]

Wow!

This is surprising.

 

[WhenSultansBowled]

Not very surprising actually.

Behind all the enemity, Indian and Pakistani Army officers are actually quite chummy. It must be the same with the Chinese.

I'm sure they'll all party together in Russia, once the boom-boom games get over for the day.

Well said.

Also, soldiers are the ones who actually (and literally) put their lives in danger, that's the major difference between them and nationalist hate spreading media pundits and internet trolls.

 

[MenInG]

India has withdrawn from a multi-nation army exercise being hosted by Russia in which around 20 countries including China are expected to take part next month at a time when talks with China to reduce border tensions in eastern Ladakh are stuck in a stalemate, people familiar with the developments said on Saturday.

Exercise Kavkaz-2020 will be held in southern Russia’s Astrakhan region from September 15 to 27. The Pakistan army is also likely to take part in the joint drills that are part of a four-year exercise cycle of the Russian army.

The decision not to go ahead with participating in the Kavkaz-2020 multilateral exercise was made following consultations between the defence ministry and the external affairs ministry that took into consideration several factors, the officials cited above said on the condition of anonymity.

“There is a decision not to take part in contact exercises in view of the Covid-19 pandemic in order to ensure the safety of our troops,” the officials said. The expected presence in the exercise of troops from South Ossetia and Abkhazia, both states that aren’t recognised by India, in Kavkaz-2020 was also a factor in the decision, said one of the officials.

Most UN member states see Abkhazia and South Ossetia as part of Georgia, though both are recognised by Russia. India doesn’t recognise both as independent states as they are not members of the UN. India’s presence at such an exercise could have given rise to delicate diplomatic issues, a second official said.

Criticism of India’s possible presence at Kavkaz-2020 alongside Chinese and Pakistani troops has been growing ever since reports first emerged that New Delhi was extended an invitation to send a tri-services contingent to the exercise.

India was earlier planning to send around 180 troops from an infantry battalion, along with elements of the air force and observers from the Indian Navy for the exercise. A total of 13,000 troops from different countries are expected to take part in the drills.

Questions have also been raised about India participating in an exercise featuring Chinese troops amid the months-long standoff along the LAC and the death of 20 Indian soldiers in the violent clash in Galwan Valley on June 15.

The Russian exercise has also sparked tensions with Ukraine, which is organising its own command-staff exercise United Efforts-2020, for which it plans to involve NATO countries. This exercise too will be held at around the same time.

While it is not uncommon for the armies of India, China and Pakistan to be part of multi-nation exercises on neutral territories (they even deploy alongside in United Nations peace missions), India’s participation in Kavkaz-2020 had assumed importance because of the ongoing border row in the Ladakh sector.


India and China were unable to bridge their differences on the disengagement and de-escalation process along the LAC during recent diplomatic talks, with New Delhi emphasising the need to resolve “outstanding issues” speedily, as reported by Hindustan Times on August 20.

People familiar with developments during the meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) on border affairs dismissed an assertion in a readout from the Chinese foreign ministry that the two sides had “positively evaluated the progress” in the disengagement process.

The military dialogue between senior commanders from the two sides has hit a roadblock due to Chinese reluctance to restore status quo ante in some key friction areas along the LAC. The commanders set the time-frame and method of disengagement while the WMCC monitors the process.

No dates have yet been fixed for the next round of talks between corps commander-ranked officers who have so far met five times but failed to break the deadlock.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/indi...lving-china/story-jMc6qqM0Sv1pKanxTkGatO.html

 

[King_Kohli]

What is the point of participating these kind of military exercise ?
Money waste during pandemic..nonsense

 

[sweep_shot]

What is the point of participating these kind of military exercise ?
Money waste during pandemic..nonsense

It is symbolic. That's all.

 

[King_Kohli]

It is symbolic. That's all.

No point of showing our fake bravado in front of developed nations.
We can use that money somewhere.

 

[sweep_shot]

No point of showing our fake bravado in front of developed nations.
We can use that money somewhere.

I agree but this type of exercise has some benefits. It strengthens bonding and improves spirit.

It is a bit like warm up cricket games.

 

[Syed1]

Aag lagi basti mein
Hum apni masti mein

 

[The Bald Eagle]

Russia and China are on the brink of a military alliance that could overwhelm the US
For decades, the military might of the US was unchallenged.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the US was the world's only military superpower, with its forces deployed all over the world to defend allies and deter aggression.

But as 2023 draws to a close, conflicts are flaring across the world, and Russia and China are growing increasingly aggressive in their shared ambition to topple the US as the world's biggest power.

Their authoritarian leaders, Xi Jinping of China and Vladimir Putin of Russia, are seeking to exploit global instability to damage the US and its allies, say analysts, and are drawing closer to forming a military alliance that poses the biggest threat the US has faced in decades.

It is clear that the two states see themselves as military partners, and that this partnership is growing deeper and more experienced, even if it is not a formal alliance in the Western sense," Jonathan Ward, CEO of the Atlas Group, told Business Insider.

Xi and Putin draw closer to formidable military alliance
In conflicts across the world, the rivalry between the US and the Russian and Chinese partnership is playing out.

China has provided Russia with vital economic and diplomatic support in its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, while the US has provided billions in aid to Kyiv.

In the Middle East, Russia and China have aligned themselves with Iran and criticized Israel's attacks on Gaza to destroy the Tehran-backed terror group Hamas. The US, meanwhile, has provided military aid and diplomatic support for Israel.

But the possibility of a military pact between the authoritarian leaders is one which experts say the US has to ready itself for.

The US' global alliances are hugely important for its capacity to offset the threat posed by the rival superpowers. Particularly in Europe, they have to urgently step up and boost their military capacity, said Ward.

"The United States can still handle both threats, but this will require substantial increases in burden sharing, especially among European allies who have now seen the true consequences of Russia-China geopolitical 'coordination' since the invasion of Ukraine," said Ward.

Source : Business Insider