MOSCOW, October 5. /TASS/. Russia and India will continue carrying out joint military drills, according to a joint statement by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made after their talks and posted on the Kremlin website on Friday.

The leaders of both countries called military and military-technical cooperation between Moscow and New Delhi an important element of strategic partnership.

"The Sides noted that Military and Military-Technical cooperation between the two countries is an important pillar of their strategic partnership. They welcomed the forthcoming meeting of the Indian-Russian Intergovernmental Commission on Military-Technical cooperation to be held in December 2018," the statement reads.

The Russian side positively evaluated the Indian participation in the Army Games 2018, the Army 2018 and the Moscow Conference on International Security.

"Both Sides commended the successful completion of the first ever Tri-Services Exercise INDRA 2017 and committed to continue their Joint Military Exercises - INDRA Navy, INDRA Army and Avia INDRA - in 2018," the statement says.