Navy chief Lanba to visit Russia

Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba is scheduled to visit Russia from November 26 to November 29 to consolidate bilateral defence relations and also to explore new avenues for defence cooperation.

Lanba will be commencing his official visit from St. Petersburg where he is scheduled to hold bilateral discussions with his counterpart, Admiral Vladimir Korolev, Commander-in-Chief, Russian Federation Navy (RuFN), an official release said on Sunday.

The Admiral is also scheduled to lay a wreath at Piskarev memorial cemetery dedicated to the victims of the 'Siege of Leningrad' and visit the Nakhimov Naval School and Admiralty Shipyard.

In Moscow, he will have discussions with Russia's First Deputy Defence Minister General V.V. Gerasimov and Director of Federal Service for Military Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) Dmitriy Shugaev.

Admiral Lanba will also visit the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces and deliver a talk on "Indian Navy's Perspective on Maritime Security".

The Indian Navy cooperates with the Russian Navy on many fronts, including operational interactions, training, hydrography cooperation and exchange of subject-matter experts in various fields through the medium of Navy-to-Navy Staff Talks, the release said.

The Indian and Russian navies have been conducting the bilateral maritime exercise 'Indra Navy' since 2003 and 'Indra Tri-Services Exercise' since 2017.

The next edition of the exercise 'Indra-Navy' is scheduled off Visakhapatnam next month.

--IANS

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