Egypt and Russia commenced the “Guardians of Friendship 2016″ joint military exercise on Sunday, which involves airborne forces from both countries, Egyptian military spokesman Mohamed Samir announced in a statement.
“The joint military training will include drills between Egyptian and Russian paratrooper units in the northwestern region of el-Alamein,” said Samir, who posted photos of the military exercise on his Facebook page.
The military exercise, which is the first to be carried out by Russian army units on an Egyptian soil, will last until Oct. 26.
Last year Russia and Egypt held their first joint naval exercises in the Mediterranean, which included the Black Sea fleet’s flagship Moskva missile cruiser.
“Participation of servicemen of the airborne troops of Russia in the international exercise regulated agreements reached with the Egyptian side and in accordance with the plan of the international activities of the Ministry of Defense of Russia,” Russian defense ministry announced in a statement Tuesday.
Russian military exercises are usual combat training measures and “are no signals or threats to other countries,” Russia’s Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said on Wednesday.
