NEW DELHI, March 28. /TASS/. A ceremony of opening the Indra Navy joint maneuvers of the Russian and Indian navies took place aboard India’s destroyer Rana with the participation of commanders, representatives of the crews, the local authorities and Russia’s embassy in the port city of Chennai in India’s south, the headquarters of the drills told TASS on Friday.
The Russia-India joint maneuvers offer "another opportunity to check the readiness for joint operations and address a broad range of issues," said Captain 1st Rank Aleksey Antsiferov who commands the Russian Pacific Fleet’s warships that have arrived in India for the naval exercise.
"Indra Navy is the format of the drills that allow for exchanging experience, sharpening the skills and practicing joint actions, establishing contacts and bolstering strategic partnership between India and Russia for jointly countering military threats at sea," the commander stressed.
"Naturally, our maneuvers are not directed against any states and are of a planned nature and are not related to any changes in the military and political situation in the world. Their basic goal is to maintain stability in the World Ocean where our fleets operate," Antsiferov pointed out, noting that the long-standing friendship between Russia and India "helps jointly cope with any threat in the world."
The Russian commander said he hoped that the drills would further develop and become more complex in the future. "I am confident that the drills will result in further bolstering cooperation between our navies," he said.
Commander of the Tamil Nadu Naval Area Admiral Satish Shenai highlighted that Russia and India were bound by the rich heritage of cooperation, trust and mutual respect. He emphasized that the Indra drills were evidence of the strength of Indian-Russian friendship.
Indra Navy drills
A group of the Russian Pacific Fleet’s ships comprising the corvettes Rezky and Hero of the Russian Federation Aldar Tsydenzhapov and the support vessel Pechenga arrived at the Indian port of Chennai for the Indra Navy joint maneuvers on March 27.
India’s warships participating in the drills include the Project 61-ME destroyer Rana built in the Soviet Union in 1970-1980 on order from the Indian government and transferred to India in 1982 and the corvette Kuthar designed by Indian naval engineers and constructed in Mumbai.
The southern Indian port city of Chennai that accommodates the headquarters of the Tamil Nadu Naval Area has been chosen as the venue for the drills.
The exercise will run in two stages. The first stage will take place on the shore and involve meetings on practicing interoperability of naval ships from both countries. This stage will also envision official visits, meetings and sports competitions, sightseeing tours and cultural events.
During the second phase due to begin next week, the naval ships will deploy to the sea for three-day maneuvers in the Bay of Bengal. During the joint exercise, the Russian and Indian naval sailors will practice maneuvering, helicopter landing on the ship deck and firings at sea and air targets, the headquarters of the drills told TASS.
Russia and India have been regularly conducting Indra drills for already more than 20 years. The drills aim to improve operational interoperability and bolster bilateral naval cooperation. In recent years, land and naval forces alternately participate in the maneuvers.
The first Russian-Indian naval maneuvers took place off the western coast of India in May 2003. Eventually, the maneuvers became regular and began to be conducted by Russia and India alternately. The latest Indra Russian-Indian drills were conducted in the Gulf of Finland in July 2024.