Pskov

MOSCOW, January 20 (RIA Novosti) - Russia and India are planning to conduct joint land and naval counter-terrorism exercises in 2007, a Russian Defense Ministry official said Saturday.
INDRA-2007 is a biennial joint exercise between the armed forces of Russia and India aimed at coordinating cooperative engagement in the fight against terrorism.
"The details of the upcoming joint Russian-Indian exercise will be discussed during a visit of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov to India," said Colonel General Anatoly Mazurkevich, head of the Main Directorate for Foreign Military Cooperation.
The naval part of INDRA-2007 will be held in April 2007 at the Pacific Ocean involving naval units of the Russian Pacific Fleet and the Indian Navy.
The land part of the war games is scheduled for mid-September at the training grounds of the 76th Airborne Division near the city of Pskov in north-western Russia.
"Paratroopers will practice air drops with live firing," the general said adding that the counter-terrorism exercise will involve a Russian airborne battalion and a company of Indian paratroopers.
The previous joint Russian-Indian exercise, INDRA-2005, was held in India on October 10-20, 2005. Mazurkevich also said the Russian defense minister will discuss bilateral military-technical cooperation during his visit to India on January 22-25.
The main topics of talks will include the supply of spare parts to Russian-made military equipment that was previously sold to India and the licensed production of RD-33 jet engines for MiG-29 Fulcrum and Su-30MKI Flanker C fighter aircraft in service with the Indian Air Force, the general said.
According to various estimates, the Indian Air Force has up to 65 MiG-29's and 50 Su-30's.