Russia, India to conduct joined military exercise

Indra 2013, a joint military exercise between India and Russia, will be held in India Oct 18-28, said the spokesman of Russia's Eastern Command, Alexander Gordeyev. According to Russia's ITAR-TASS news agency, the international exercises will be conducted at the Mahajan field firing range in India's Rajasthan state and involve about 250 paratroopers of Russia's Eastern Command formation deployed in the Republic of Buryatia and the same number of servicemen from India. The military hardware (T-72 tanks, and BMP-2K and BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicles) would be provided by India, he said. The purpose of the exercise is to improve troops’ capabilities to search for, block and neutralise illegal armed formations, Gordeyev said.