India-Russia Bilateral military exercise INDRA

• 12th Edition of Indo-Russia joint military Exercise INDRA 2021 will be held at Volgograd, Russia from 01 to 13 August 2021.
• The exercise will entail conduct of counter terror operations under the United Nations mandate by a joint force against international terror groups.
• 250 personnel from both the nations will form part of the exercise.

INDRA Exercise

• It was Initiated in 2003 aimed at sending a strong message to the world with an intent of appreciation of interoperability between Indian and Russian Armies for joint tactical level operations in the peacekeeping/enforcement environment under the aegis of the United Nations.
• 12th edition of the drills would involve 300 different targets, of which more than 100 are mobile, simulating enemy vehicles and armoured carriers.
• The exercise has, for years, focused upon training on enhancing team building, special tactical level operations such as cordon and search, house intervention, handling and neutralisation of Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) and integrated employment of force multipliers.
• Last year, the exercise was organised in the 'non-contact, at sea only' format only in the Bay of Bengal due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

India-Russia Defence Cooperation

• Defence cooperation is an important pillar of the India-Russia strategic partnership.
• It is guided by the Programme for Military Technical Cooperation signed between the two countries which was valid till 2020.
• A long-term Military-Technical Cooperation Program for 2021-30 has been under discussion.
• It enshrines the interest of the two governments to further develop and strengthen the military and technical cooperation in the sphere of research and development, production and after sales support of armament systems and various military equipment.
• The two sides also have periodic exchanges of armed forces personnel and military exercises.
• India and Russia have an institutionalized structure to oversee the complete range of issues of military technical cooperation.
• The India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military Technical Cooperation (IRIGC-MTC), set up in 2000, is at the apex of this structure.
• The two Defence Ministers meet annually, alternately in Russia and India, to discuss and review the status of ongoing projects and other issues of military technical cooperation.
• There are two Working Groups and seven Sub-Groups under the IRIGC-MTC, which review and discuss an array of military technical issues.
• In 2008, a high level committee called the High Level Monitoring Committee (HLMC) was set up with Defence Secretary from the Ministry of Defence of India and Director of Federal Service for Military Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) from the Russian Federation as its co-chairs.