5 September 2016, 13:01 GMT
MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Moscow sees no reason for India to be concerned about upcoming Russian-Pakistani joint military exercises, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s director of the Second Asian Department said Friday.
The Druzhba-2016 ("Friendship-2016") tactical drills will be held on September 24-October 7 in the Army High Altitude School in northern Pakistan’s Rattu and at a special forces training center in Cherat. The exercises aim to strengthen and develop cooperation between the countries’ armed forces.
"We were informed by the Russian Defense Ministry that these exercises will not be carried out in [disputed] areas, and a place was chosen that has nothing to do with this. Hence there is no reason for India to worry about it," Zamir Kabulov told RIA Novosti.
Kabulov said Moscow had informed New Delhi of the regions where the exercises with Pakistan were planned to take place.
