India pushes for traditional military-to-military cooperation with Russia

India today pushed for more focus on traditional military-to-military cooperation with Russia. It also called for enhancing pace and depth of exchanges at the level of Chiefs, training of personnel and joint military exercises between the two countries. 

Addressing the 16th meeting of the India-Russia Intergovernmental Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation in New Delhi today, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said, the two sides could mutually work out the modalities of increasing the military-to-military cooperation and draw up a roadmap for implementation. 

Mr. Parrikar flagged cross-border terrorism as one of the key security challenges faced



by India and appreciated Russia's consistent and unwavering support in its efforts to eliminate this menace. He said, the cross border terrorism is a manifestation of the continued presence of terrorist groups in India's neighbourhood. 

The Minister said, Russia has also been actively engaged in efforts to eliminate terrorists in West Asia and the two countries recognize that the terrorism cannot be defeated with double standards. He added that there is a need for zero tolerance and collective efforts to combat it. The Indian side was headed by Manohar Parrikar while the Russian delegation was led by his counterpart General Sergey Shoigu at the meeting.