ALBAWABA - Citing Indian and European defense officials, a report by Reuters revealed that despite Moscow's objections to exporting arms to Ukraine, artillery shells sold by Indian arms makers have been diverted by European customers to Kyiv.
According to sources and customs statistics, the shipment of weapons to help Ukraine's defense against Russia has been ongoing for over a year already. Indian arms export restrictions restrict the use of firearms to the stated buyer, who risks having future sales stopped if illegal transfers take place.
According to three Indian officials, the Kremlin has brought up the subject at least twice, including during a meeting in July between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Indian colleague. Reuters originally reported on the ammunition exchanges.
Randhir Jaiswal, a spokeswoman for India's foreign ministry, stated at a press conference in January that India had not delivered or sold artillery rounds to Ukraine.
Two Indian government and defense sector officials told Reuters that Delhi manufactured just a small portion of the ammunition used by Ukraine, with one official estimating that it accounted for less than 1% of the total weapons bought by Kyiv since the war.
Reuters was unable to determine if the weapons were sold or provided to Kyiv by European buyers.
According to a Spanish and a senior Indian official, as well as a former top executive at Yantra India, a state-owned company whose munitions are used by Ukraine, among the European countries sending Indian munitions to Ukraine are Italy and the Czech Republic, which is leading an initiative to supply Kyiv with artillery shells from outside the European Union.
The Indian official stated that Delhi was watching the situation. However, he and a defense industry executive with firsthand knowledge of the transfers stated that India had taken no steps to limit delivery to Europe.
They spoke on the condition of anonymity, as did most of the 20 people questioned by Reuters, due to the sensitivity of the situation.
