India, Russia sign pact to step up military ties

Moscow, June 23

In a major move, India and Russia today agreed on a roadmap for ramping up bilateral defence cooperation and decided to conclude negotiations for different military platforms soon.

Both sides signed a protocol for the roadmap to step up defence engagement during the annual meeting of the Indian-Russian Intergovernmental Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation.

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The meeting was co-chaired by Defence Minister Arun Jaitley and his Russian counterpart General Sergey Shoigu.

The roadmap includes specific activities to be concluded by both sides, and aims to enhance cooperation in the field of political and military dialogue, besides joint military exercises. Jaitley conveyed to the Russian side the importance of having a robust after-sales support mechanism for Russian-origin equipment. — PTI