Russia, ASEAN to hold first joint naval drill in Indonesian waters in December: Diplomat

MOSCOW

:

Russia

and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will host the first joint naval exercise on December 1-3 in the Indonesian territorial waters, Russian Ambassador to the ASEAN Alexander

Ivanov

told Sputnik on Tuesday.

"The drill will take place in the North Sumatra area. Large anti-submarine ship Admiral Panteleyev, which is part of the Russian Navy's Pacific Fleet, will attend them on the Russian side," Ivanov said.

According to the diplomat, the decision on holding the exercise was made at the October 28 online summit between Russia and ASEAN, which had President Vladimir Putin among the participants. The summit adopted several documents on the further development of the strategic partnership between Moscow and the bloc and approved the first joint naval drill.

"The exercise aims to train cooperation between the Russian Navy and the navies of the ASEAN member countries to provide security to maritime commercial activities and traffic and will be divided into two phases -- virtual and maritime. Defense Minister of the Republic of Indonesia Prabowo Subianto plans to launch the drill on board of large anti-submarine ship Admiral

Panteleev

," Ivanov added.

Russia has been a full-scale partner in dialogue with the association since 1996. In 2016, at the Russia-ASEAN summit in Sochi, the sides adopted a declaration and an action plan to bring cooperation between Moscow and the organization to the level of strategic partnership.