New Delhi, Sep 1 (IANS): The Indian Army on Wednesday announced that it will be participating in a multi-national defence exercise being held at Russia's Nizhniy from September 3 to September 16.

The Indian Army's 200 personnel contingent will carry out war games with 16 other countries in the drill, known as Zapad 2021. One of the theatre-level exercises of Russian Armed Forces, it will focus primarily on operations against terrorists.

"Over a dozen countries from Eurasian and South Asian Region will participate in this signature event," the Indian Army said.

The countries invited for the drill include Armenia, Belarus, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Vietnam, Serbia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Pakistan and Chinese armies would be observers as they are not part of the exercise.

The 14-day-long exercise is scheduled to take place at Mulino Training Ground in Nizhniy, 423 km east of Moscow. The series rotates through four main Russian strategic Commands, including Zapad (West), Vostok (East), Tsentr (Centre) and Kavkaz (Caucasus).

The exercise aims to enhance military and strategic ties amongst the participating nations while they plan and execute it.

From India, the Naga battalion group will participate in the exercise and will feature an all-arms combined task force.

The Indian contingent has been put through a strenuous training schedule which encompasses all facets of conventional operations including mechanised, airborne and heliborne, counter-terrorism, combat conditioning, and firing.