India opposes Pak-Russia joint military exercise

MOSCOW (92 News) – India has conveyed its opposition to Russia over its joint exercise with Pakistan, saying it will create further problems. “We have conveyed our views to the Russian side that military cooperation with Pakistan which is a State that sponsors and practices terrorism as a matter of State policy is a wrong approach and it will only create further problems,” Indian Ambassador to Moscow Pankaj Saran said in an interview to a Russian news agency. Saran further said, “There are some burning issues before the world today which the BRICS countries will certainly address and this includes the question of terrorism and the threat of terrorism faced by all the countries in the BRICS group. So this will be a major item of discussion during the summit apart from the regional conflicts and the global situation.” India has been communicating its unhappiness to Russia over its joint military exercises with Pakistan. However, these concerns have been played down by the Russians who maintain that they hold similar military drills with other countries of the region as well. Russia had held first-ever joint military exercise with Pakistan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region in September.