For the sake of military ties: Indian Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba on 4-day visit to Russia

Indian Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba will begin a four-day visit to Russia on Monday aiming to enhance military ties between the two countries, the Ministry of Defence said on Sunday.

The Navy chief will hold wide-ranging talks with his Russian counterpart, Admiral Vladimir Korolev, and meet a number of top military officials including General VV Gerasimov, Chief of General Staff and First Deputy Defence Minister of Russia.

The Admiral will have discussions with General VV Gerasimov, and Dmitriy Shugaev, Director, Federal Service for Military Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) of the Russian Federation, in Moscow, the Ministry of Defence said.

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

The Indian Navy cooperates with the Russian Federation Navy on many fronts, which include operational interactions like, training, hydrography cooperation and exchange of Subject Matter Experts in various fields through the medium of Navy-to-Navy Staff Talks. In addition, the Indian Navy and the Russian Federation Navy have been conducting the bilateral Maritime Exercise 'INDRA NAVY', since 2003 and INDRA Tri-Services Exercise since 2017. The next edition of Exercise INDRA-Navy is scheduled off Visakhapatnam in December 2018.

Admiral Lanba's visit to Russia comes around a week after the two countries signed a USD-500-million-deal for construction of two missile frigates in Goa for the Indian Navy.