Kavkaz 2020 Military Exercise – Burning Issues – Free PDF Download

• In a resumption of bilateral and multilateral military exercises which were deferred due to coronavirus (COVID-19), India will take part in the Russian Kavkaz 2020 strategic command-post exercise next month.
• The invitees for the exercise also include China and Pakistan apart from other member-states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
•  The invitation for participation to Kavkaz 2020, also referred to as Caucasus-2020, has been extended to at least 18 countries including China, Iran, Pakistan and Turkey apart from other Central Asian Republics part of the SCO.

MEMBERS OF THE EXERCISE

• India, China, Pakistan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, Syria, Iran, Egypt, Belarus, Turkey, Armenia, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan are set to take part in Kavkaz 2020.

ABOUT SCO

• The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is a Eurasian political, economic, and security alliance, the creation of which was announced on 15 June 2001 in Shanghai, China by the leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan;

• A small tri-service contingent will take part in the exercise to be held in Astrakhan in southern Russia. “The Indian contingent includes 150 Army personnel and smaller number of personnel from the Navy and Air Force,”.

• Though India and China face-off in an escalating border-tension situation on Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh, this is not the first time the two nations will co-participate in a war exercise.
• In June, India and China also participated in the Victory Day Parade at Red Square in Moscow to mark the 75th anniversary of World War II. Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh was present there along with the Chinese counterpart.
• The word Kavkaz is derived as a modern variant of Caucasus or Caucasia, a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea and mainly occupied by Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and southwestern Russia.

• The Kavkaz region is home to the Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus mountain range, which has historically been considered a natural barrier between Eastern Europe and Western Asia.

• For the most part, Russia’s large-scale military exercises are scheduled in four major drills on a rotating basis: Vostok (East), Zapad (West), Tsentr (Center), and Kavkaz (South), which correlate to Russia’s military districts.
• So it was Zapad 2017, Vostok 2018, Tsentr 2019, and now Kavkaz 2020.

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