Army to take part in 17-nation war game; Pak, China observers

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 1

A 200-strong contingent of Indian Army will participate in Exercise ‘ZAPAD 2021’, a 17-nation exercise at Nizhniy, Russia, where China and Pakistan are participants as observers.

In the past, the Indian armed forces have done multi-nation exercises under the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Russia where China and Pakistan participated with troops. This will be first such engagement with China since the militaries of India and China are in a military stand-off in eastern Ladakh since May 2020.

The exercise, which focuses primarily on operations against terrorists, commences on Friday and will continue till September 16.

Sources say that besides India and Russia, other participating countries are Mongolia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Serbia and Belarus.

Pakistan, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Uzbekistan and Sri Lanka are observers.

The third battalion of the Naga regiment of the Indian Army will be participating in the exercise and it will feature a combined task force that would have all elements of war fighting.

“The exercise aims at enhancing military and strategic ties among the participating nations while they plan and execute this exercise,” said Col Sudhir Chamoli, a spokesperson for the Indian Army.