Two Russian Navy vessels have docked at Cochin Port in southern India, Moscow’s embassy in New Delhi announced on Tuesday.
The ships included missile cruiser ‘Varyag,’ holder of the Order of Nakhimov, and the frigate ‘Marshal Shaposhnikov’ of the Russian Pacific Fleet, the embassy stated, describing the port call as “strategic.”
“This visit underscores the strong maritime cooperation between Russia and India,” the embassy added in the statement.
A video released by the embassy shows Russian sailors interacting with their Indian counterparts in the control area of one of the ships.
The visit was reported days after Indian Navy frigate INS Tabar traveled to Russia’s St Petersburg for a four-day visit to participate in the 328th Russian Navy Day Parade celebrations. The Mumbai-based Talwar-class ship was originally built at St Petersburg’s Baltic Shipyard and commissioned by the Indian fleet in 2004.
Defense has traditionally been the main pillar of the India-Russia partnership and the navies of the two countries often conduct joint drills. Last November, India and Russia held joint naval exercises in the Bay of Bengal, off India’s eastern coast.
The drills, Moscow said at the time, will help the two navies to “jointly counter global threats and ensure the safety of civilian shipping in the Asia-Pacific region.”
In 2003, the two countries began Indra, a biennial exercise tasked with boosting cooperation and interoperability that also includes naval drills. The most recent edition of Indra took place on August 4, 2021, at the Prudboy Ranges in Volgograd, Russia. Notably, Russia is also India’s largest supplier of arms.