Staff Reporter
Rawalpindi
The joint military exercise Druzhba-V between Pakistan Army and Russian troops is continuing at Tarbela, according to the ISPR.
The director general of the military’s media wing on Sunday tweeted a video showing Pakistan and Russian Federation Special Forces troops practising drills and procedures for hostage rescue, cordon, search operations, heli-rappelling and sky diving as part of Druzhba-V.
The joint Pakistani-Russian military exercise, codenamed Druzhba (Friendship) V, had kicked off on November 8.
The opening ceremony of the drill was held at Tarbela. Pakistan-Russian Federation Special Forces are participating in the two-week-long counterterrorism exercise, said the ISPR.
On November 5, a contingent of Russian troops arrived in Pakistan to participate in the military exercise. The ISPR said the exercise is aimed at sharing both armies’ experiences in the counterterrorism domain. Sky diving and hostage rescue operations will be the highlights of the exercise.
A video showing the special forces’ personnel partake in the exercises was shared by the Inter-Services Public Relations Director-General’s official Twitter account.
The joint exercises are seen as another step in growing military-to-military cooperation, indicating a steady growth in the relationship between the two countries, whose ties had been marred by Cold War rivalry for decades.
Pak-Russia joint military exercises Druzhba are held every year. The exercises started in 2016. These exercises include aspects of counter-terrorism and special operations.
In September this year, a contingent of the Pakistan armed forces participated in the opening ceremony of multinational military exercises titled ‘Kavkaz 2020’ in the Russian city of Astrakhan.
Pakistan had also participated in the similar series of exercises called ‘Tsentr 2019’, in Russia last year. The wargames were joined by troops from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and other countries.
