Pakistan, Russia cooperating to boost defence ties

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan and Russian Federation enjoy strong bilateral ties based on mutual respect, understanding and trust, the navies of the two countries are contributing to enhance defence ties in various domains, said a statement of the Pakistan Navy on Saturday.

In the same stride, the Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Zafar Mahmood Abbasi recently visited Russian Federation and Pakistan Navy Ship ASLAT with embarked helicopter also visited St. Petersburg, Russia in July 2018. Reciprocating the same, Russian Federation Navy ships SEVEROMOSRSK and Middle Sea Tanker KAMA visited Karachi Port in last week of November. The visit of Russian Federation Navy ships were fully capitalised in terms of professional and social interactions between both the navies.

During their stay at Karachi, the officers and men of Russian Federation Navy interacted with senior officials of Pakistan Navy on subjects of mutual interests. The officers and men from the two visiting ships also visited IDEAS 2018 at EXPO Center.

Pakistan Navy and Russian Federation Navy are engaged in bilateral naval exercises since 2014 under code name Arabian Monsoon. The exercise is regularly conducted during the port visits by the naval ships to each others' country. Upon completion of eventful stay by the Russian Federation Navy Ships at Karachi, bilateral Exercise Arabian Monsoon was conducted in North Arabian Sea to enhance interoperability between participating navies through development, rehearsing tactics, techniques and procedures in sync with the requirements of modern day naval warfare.

The professional experience gained by both navies during the visit and bilateral exercise will be mutually rewarding, and certainly enhance interoperability and open more avenues of bilateral cooperation and collaboration between the two countries.