Over the past two years, in the strategic relationship of the Ministry of Defence of Russia and Pakistan, there has been a real breakthrough. The regional diplomatic dynamics have taken a turn as U.S. grows closer to India; Russia and Pakistan are jointly working towards heralding a new era of professional collaboration while balancing power in the region. The salient manifestation of this improvement includes Pakistan and Russia signing the defence cooperation agreement in November 2014 during the first ever visit of Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu to Islamabad in 45 years, lifting a years-long ban on the sale of Russian arms to Pakistan. The agreement provides for cooperation to promote international security; intensification of counter-terrorism efforts and arms control activities; strengthening collaboration in various military fields and sharing experiences. The deal was followed by another technical cooperation agreement to pave the way for sale of defence equipment to Pakistan.

The joint military drills are aimed at bolstering and building up military cooperation between the two countries and are another sign of warming ties between Islamabad and Moscow. Russia is interested in using Pakistan Army’s expertise against terrorism as Russian Federation, its citizens and property have been the targets of international terrorism and persistent domestic insurgency for over a decade and a half. Terrorism also represents an obstacle to peace process in the North Caucasus while posing a threat to the stability of Russia. Pakistan has also been the victim of terrorism for more than a decade but the end-game shifted the tide as the Armed Forces fought resolutely in the face of terrorism and extremism that resulted in a much stable security environment.

Russia’s Southern MD Mountain Motorised Rifle Brigade deployed to Karachay-Cherkessia Republic (North Caucasus), and also officers from the headquarters’ staff arrived in Pakistan on September 23, 2016 on an Ilyushin II-76 military transport plane for the exercise codenamed ‘Druzhba 2016', a Russian word meaning ‘friendship’. Back in Russia they are deployed to Karachay- Cherkessia Republic located in the North Caucasus area of southern European Russia. It covers mostly mountainous terrain, thus they came fully prepared with their mountain gear as well as ammunition for their standard weapons.

Upon their arrival at the location of training, Cherat, they met Pakistani soldiers under the sounds of orchestra; a military band played the military tunes as a welcome gesture. Initially Russian military familiarized with the infrastructure field camps, place of residence and of employment and then the training began officially.

A narrow winding one-way road goes all the way up to the mountain city of Cherat where the Special Services Group (SSG) Base lies in a small cantonment located 4500ft above sea level. The hill commands a view of the whole of Peshawar valley on one side and on the other of a portion of Khwarra valley in Peshawar and of Kohat as far as the Indus. The cantonment dates back to 1861 where it was first used as a sanitorium for the British troops. It was declared a cantonment in 1886 and a hospital, church and a few bungalows were built. The crests on the cliffs are a reminder of that. The oldest crest which adorns the cliffs was put up in 1881. A shuhada monument with the standard SSG formation insignia – a lightning bolt and commando dagger – stands tall atop the stairs in front of the old British crests.

Seven days later, when we reached the site on Thursday, September 29, 2016, the Russian troops had been divided into three groups for the exercises. Group C was practicing casualty evacuation. Corporal Nikolei lay on a stretcher on the ground motionless while he was being tied to the stretcher with the help of ropes by the other soldiers. “It can be easily carried to the helicopter evacuation site now,” told Senior Lieutenant Evgeny, the interpreter. “This position allows no movement barring one arm that is freed for blood circulation. And cigarettes or snacks of course,” laughed one soldier as he explained, sporting a cap with Druzhba 2016 printed on it.

Carriage of casualties down the mountains becomes cumbersome during operations. Troops are often deployed in inhospitable and farflung posts where the survival is dictated by the terrain, altitude and the climate peculiar to the specific region which may have either high peaks with intervening deep gorges, barren hostile glaciers, extremely cold climate in high altitude areas, high temperatures or moist climates.

As he sat in a tent watching his troops participating in the exercise, sunlight pouring through the side touched the fair Russian features bringing out the blue eyes of the Brigade Commander, Col Dmitriev Sergie Alexandrovich. When asked how he felt being in Pakistan, he spoke, “We have received a very warm welcome in Pakistan and I see that people are excited to have us here. I feel fortunate and proud to be the first to represent the Russian forces in Pakistan. Our goal here is not only to share experience but the foremost is to establish good relations between our nations.”

A few other soldiers were descending a very steep face of a cliff with the help of a climbing rope anchored to the cliff at the top. Using a rappel device, which utilized the friction of the rope through the device to control his descent, they were sliding down the fixed rope to the cliff-base. It was a part of their technical climbing exercise. They finally held a final demonstration where they climbed down the cliff carrying guns and fired during the descent and as soon as they descended they opened fire again on the enemies supposedly present in the area according to the scenario under practice.

As we sat watching the feat I asked about the training. Col Alexandrovich responded, “As a military officer I couldn’t ignore the technological differences and specifics of training being conducted here at the school. Instructors here are well trained and they know the craft. I have seen the Pakistani soldiers during the classes and I can see they are true professionals. Our soldiers are trying to act jointly and communicating without knowing each other's language. It’s too early to say what experience we would take from each other and what techniques could we incorporate into our routine. It would depend on the training features and operational requirements. However in any kind of terrain we must know how to fight.”

He continued, “My perception about Pakistan was always positive but before I came here I only had a general opinion about Pakistan. I didn’t know the culture, features and the peculiarities of this country. Of course what you watch on TV is not really enough to fully realize how the real Pakistan is. Now that I’m here I’ve learnt about the real Pakistan and I like it

very much.”

We moved on to watch another staged military tactical exercise that Group B was carrying which involved reconnaissance operations in order to find terrorist pockets and ammunition caches in the mountainou region of Cherat and performed systematic acts of clearance and breakthrough, blocking a built-up area where illegal armed groups were supposedly hiding. The assault groups of the two countries started joint seizure of the buildings and the destruction of the simulated enemy after a detailed target clarification and evaluation of intelligence of the prevailing situation. The objective was to neutralize the enemy with speed, precision and minimum collateral damage. The soldiers threw smoke grenades to cover their move up to the terrorists with smoke and charged inside. They worked their way along the building assisted by cover fire of Russian Kalashnikov "Pecheneg" machineguns and sniper rifles "Dragunov SVD" and the Pakistani M4 assault rifles with grenade launchers and fired at the wooden figures which imitated the simulated enemy placement. The troops were brimming with confidence as they carried out the demonstration. Rapidity of movement and surprise formed life and soul of this offensive.

“I’m certain that this kind of collaboration will only grow. Let me express the hope that in future I’ll be receiving Pakistani contingent in Russia. Of course I cannot say how long will it take?” said Col. Alexandrovich as we followed the troops around.

The exercise was aimed at enhancing the skills and techniques of fighting in a built up area and room clearance as well as chasing them through the open fields and mountains. The houses were made of mud and bricks surrounded by trees and shrubs in between the mountain ridges. “From the experience in War on Terror, a similar place has been created for the troops’ practice,” told Major Kafeel, our conducting officer at SSG.

The quiet of the place was broken only by the sounds of birds or chatter among the Russian journalist Khudoleev Konstantine, from the TV and Radio Company of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation ‘STAR’, and his cameraman as they awaited the demonstration of Group A with their camera ready. The scenario was that the road was mined with an IED and it struck the vehicle taking lives of the soldiers riding in it. A group of soldiers on patrol nearby moved swiftly down the mountains, directing the machine gunfire towards the terrorists and took them in custody following the standard operating procedures. At the end they appraised every exercise and looked for faults and loopholes to improve upon.

"The exercises in Druzhba 2016 overall comprise minor tactics, small team actions, mountain warfare, built-up area clearance, fighting in a built-up area, weapon firing technique, weapon training, fire and maneuver, helicopter rappelling, and air assault techniques. The final exercise will be air assault in which the terrorist hideouts will be approached through air and ground. MI 17s, PAF fighter jets and Cobra gunships are going to take part in it. The troops will share their experiences, and learn together to fight in the mountains and destroy illegal armed groups," told Lt Col (OIC training) Sajjad Ali. "On October 10, 2016, the Russian team will bid farewell to the Pakistani colleagues and return to its place of permanent deployment in Karachay-Cherkessia."

It is expected that the exercise will form the bedrock of Islamabad-Moscow rapprochement and pave way for a truly comprehensive relationship, broadening our defence and healthy military-to-military technical cooperation along with a burgeoning array of similar joint military exercises.