News: India will take part in the multilateral military exercise “Kavkaz 2020” to be held in Astrakhan, Russia.
Facts:
- Exercise Kavkaz 2020: It is a Russian Strategic command post exercise which is also referred to as Caucasus-2020.
- The invitees for the exercise also include China and Pakistan apart from other member-states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
Additional Facts:
- SCO: It is a permanent intergovernmental international organisation founded in 2001 with its secretariat based in Beijing, China.
- Members: China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
- Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure(RATS): It is a permanent organ of the SCO which serves to promote cooperation of member states against the three evils of terrorism, separatism and extremism.It is headquartered in Tashkent,the capital of Uzbekistan.
- Shanghai Cooperation Organization Joint Exercise on Urban Earthquake Search and Rescue(SCOJtEx-2019): It was hosted by National Disaster Response Force(NDRF) to rehearse the disaster response mechanism, share knowledge, experience and technology for mutual coordination.
