According to Reuters, during the Russo-Ukrainian war, Russia was angry with India because weapons sold by Indian arms manufacturers to Europe were reaching Ukraine through Europe. The report said that Russia protested this many times, but India did not intervene in any way to stop such trade.
The comments were made in a Reuters report based on conversations with Indian and European government and defense industry officials.
In addition to talking to officials, the agency analyzed customs data that highlighted this fact.
The arms transfers to support Ukraine’s defenses against Russia have been ongoing for more than a year, according to the sources and customs data.
Three Indian officials told Reuters that Russia had raised the issue at least twice, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov raising the issue with Jaishankar in July.
What is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ comment on the arrival of weapons in Ukraine?
In January, Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal was asked about Indian weapons arriving in Ukraine. He responded that India had never sent or sold artillery shells to Ukraine.
Two Indian government sources and two defense industry sources said very little of the ammunition used by Ukraine was produced in India. One official estimated it was less than 1% of the total weapons Ukraine has imported since going to war with Russia in February 2022. However, it was not clear whether the ammunition was donated to Ukraine by European countries or sold.
Which country is sending Indian weapons to Ukraine?
Italy and the Czech Republic are among the European countries sending Indian weapons to Ukraine, a senior Spanish and Indian official and a former senior Yantra India official told Reuters. These are two major EU member states that are sending large quantities of weapons to Ukraine. Yantra India is a government company whose weapons are being used in Ukraine.
Indian officials said the government was monitoring developments. But, as did a defense industry official with direct knowledge of the arms transfers, he said India had not taken any action to halt the weapons supplies.
“India sees Ukraine war as an opportunity…”
Russia is a traditional friend of India and has long supplied weapons to India. In light of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, India has shied away from Western sanctions against Russia and has not criticized Russia.
But six Indian sources familiar with official thinking told Reuters that India sees the ongoing war in Europe as an opportunity to develop its nascent arms export sector. Officials say India, a big importer of weapons, is racing to become an exporter. India exported about $3 billion worth of weapons between 2018 and 2023, according to data compiled by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, a think tank.
Defense Minister Rajnath Singh told a conference on August 30 that defense exports exceeded $2.5 billion in the last fiscal year and India hopes to increase it to about $6 billion by 2029.
India’s arms exports increase after Russia-Ukraine war
Customs records show that in the two years before the Russo-Ukrainian war, India’s three largest ammunition manufacturers – Yantra, Indian Ammunition Corporation and Kalyani Strategic Systems – exported only 28 kilograms of ammunition to Italy, the Czech Republic, Spain and Slovenia. Valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars. The data shows that this figure increased to $135.25 billion between February 2022 and July 2024. This also includes India has begun to export war materials to four countries.
Arjan Tarapol, an Indian defense expert at Stanford University, said India’s efforts to increase arms exports were the main reason for the transfer of weapons to Ukraine. “There has been a sudden surge in India’s arms exports and there have been cases of irregularities regarding the users of the weapons,” he said.
The delivery is done in secret
A former senior official of Yantra said that Italian unlisted defence contractor Meccanica per l’Elettronica e Servomeccanismi (MES) was among the companies that shipped Indian-made shells to Ukraine.
MES is the equipment’s largest foreign customer. The Rome-based company buys empty cartridges from India and fills them with explosives, the executive said.
What complaints did the Russian Foreign Minister raise during his meeting with Jaishankar?
India imports more than 60% of its defense weapons from Russia. In July, Prime Minister Modi visited Russia for the first time after being elected as Prime Minister for the third time.
An Indian official with direct knowledge of the meeting said that in the same month, Foreign Minister Jaishankar met with Lavrov in Kazakhstan. During this meeting, the Russian foreign minister asked about Ukraine’s use of Indian weapons. He complained that some of the weapons used by Ukraine were made by Indian companies. Information about the content of Jaishankar’s response is not public.
Walter Ladwig, a South Asian security expert at King’s College London, said sending small amounts of ammunition to Ukraine via Europe was a lucrative deal for India.
“This gives India an opportunity to show the West that it is not ‘on the side of Russia’ in the Russo-Ukrainian conflict,” he said, adding that Russia had no influence over Delhi’s decision.
Follow us On Social Media Google News and Twitter/X