Joint Russian-Pakistani exercise "Friendship-2017"

Ceremony of opening the joint Russian-Pakistani exercise "Friendship-2017" was held Sept. 24 in the village of Nizhny Arkhyz, Karachay-Cherkess Republic, Russia. 

More than 200 servicemen of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan took part in the event.

The opening ceremony of the exercises began with the raising of state flags and the execution of the national anthems of Russia and Pakistan. Speaking to the participants of the exercise, Colonel Sergey Dmitriev, commander of the motorized rifle brigade of the Southern Military District (SE), and Brigadier General Sayed Alamdar Hussanne Shah from the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan (IRP) addressed the participants of the exercise.

"The" Friendship-2017 "doctrine is of great importance for us. The military training event is aimed at sharing professional experience of servicemen, as well as strengthening military cooperation between the mountain units of Russia and Pakistan" - the brigadier said.

During the opening ceremony of the exercise, servicemen of the South Ossetia conducted demonstrative performances in hand-to-hand combat and carried out a tactical reception "removal of the sentry" using imitation shooting and smoke.

Joint military exercises will be held at an altitude of up to 2.3 thousand meters above sea level in the highlands of the Caucasian Range and will finish October 4.

At the exercises, servicemen of the two countries will work out cooperation in carrying out combat training tasks within the framework of conducting conditional combat operations in mountainous conditions, in particular, in the destruction of conditional illegal armed formations. The issues of conducting reconnaissance, search and reconnaissance-ambush operations in the mountain-woodland will be fulfilled.