The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to Sri Lanka, His Excellency Yury Materiy, with the objective of introducing his Embassy's new Defence Attache, Aleksey A. Bondarev called on the Chief of Defence Staff, Commander of the Army General Shavendra Silva at the Army Headquarters on Friday (10). The Sri Lanka Army stated that discussions pertaining to the long standing bonds of goodwill and cooperation between both nations as well as militaries during cordial interactions that ensued, the Ambassador and General Shavendra Silva had a discussion on matters of relevance with special focus on COVID-19 prevention roles, pandemic at a global level, vaccination drives, bilateral exchange programmes and training modules. Both of them underlined the need to sustain sound relations in future as well. While introducing the new Russian Defence Attache, the Ambassador maintained that Russia would always stand by Sri Lanka and assist the nation’s development in whatever way possible in future too. General Shavendra Silva thanked the Russian envoy for his country's continuous support and bilateral cooperation in numerous ways including Russia's support to contain the spread of COVID -19 pandemic in Sri Lanka. The new Defence Attaché to the Russian Embassy in Sri Lanka, appreciative of the audience granted, presented a memento to General Shavendra Silva towards the end of the interaction.