The Russian Ministry of Defense announced that Russia, China and Iran have concluded a trilateral naval exercise in the Arabian Sea, which included firing artillery at targets in the sea and in the air.
The exercise took place off Iran’s Chabahar port as Russian President Vladimir Putin prepares to host Chinese President Xi Jinping in Moscow for a three-day visit starting on Monday.
Russia continued to conduct military exercises with its partners, especially China, despite the pressure on its armed forces due to the more than year-old war in Ukraine, as it failed to achieve any significant progress since last summer.
The Defense Ministry said the Russian frigate Admiral Gorshkov and the Chinese destroyer Nanjing took part in the exercises, which took place on Thursday and Friday.
Equipped with the latest generation of Russia’s Zircon hypersonic missiles, Gorshkov participated in joint naval exercises last month with China and South Africa.