By Tass
Copyright tass
NEW DELHI, September 16. /TASS/. India’s participation in the Zapad 2025 military drills is not directed against anyone and serves to share experiences and enhance interoperability between countries, Director General, Centre for aerospace power and strategic studies, Air Vice Marshal Anil Golani told TASS on Tuesday.
He pointed out that India and Russia traditionally conduct Indra joint military exercises, “which is a normal practice.”
“Participating in a multilateral exercise is not aimed against somebody,” Golani said. “So, it’s basically to learn from best practices to ensure interoperability.”
“So, while India is exercising with Russia, it is not as if it is not exercising with the US or Germany or France. It is exercising with the other countries as well. So, when India does that exercise with USA or Germany, Russia does not criticize India. So, why does the West want to do that?”
Golani stressed that India has the right to make decisions on its own about participation in military exercises.
“India will do what it thinks is best in its own national interest,” he noted.
Moreover, in his opinion, “the West is reading too much into India’s participation in this exercise.”
“Because if US, Hungary, and Turkey have also attended this exercise as observers. They cannot have double standards that you attend the exercise and you criticize the others,” Golani added.
The joint Russian-Belarusian Zapad 2025 drills run between September 12 and 16 in Belarus and focus on ensuring the Union State’s military security. The Russian and Belarusian troops practice repelling air strikes and fighting saboteurs, along with planning the use of nuclear weapons and Oreshnik hypersonic missile systems.
British daily The Times expressed an opinion earlier that “India is crossing a red line by joining the Russian-Belarusian military exercises.” According to the publication in its article, New Delhi’s decision to participate in the Zapad 2025 maneuvers at a time of heightened tensions between Russia and NATO was an alarming signal.
The daily pointed out, however, that New Delhi has a long history of military integration with Moscow and is traditionally one of the largest buyers of Russian weapons. India has also participated in several other Russian military drills.
