“Indian artillery shells purchased by European intermediaries have been supplied to Ukraine for more than a year. Despite Russia’s protests, India does not interfere in this trade and does not stop it. Source: Reuters citing eleven Indian and European government officials and representatives of the defense industry Details: According to the agency, the Kremlin raised the issue of ending the supply of shells at least twice, in particular during the July meeting of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with his Indian counterpart.”, — write: www.pravda.com.ua
Source: Reuters, citing eleven Indian and European government and defense industry officials
Details: According to the agency, the Kremlin raised the issue of ending the supply of shells at least twice, in particular during the July meeting of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with his Indian counterpart.
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Indian laws restrict the use of exported weapons to the declared purchaser, but in practice this rule is ignored.
According to the agency’s sources, despite India’s official statements that it is not involved in the supply of ammunition to Ukraine, some European countries, such as Italy and the Czech Republic, regularly ship Indian shells to Ukraine. In particular, the Italian defense contractor Meccanica per l’Elettronica e Servomeccanismi (MES) buys empty shells in India, fills them with explosives and sends them to Ukraine.
According to customs data, among the exported ammunition were 155 mm shells and 120 mm and 125 mm caliber mines.
Two Indian government and defense industry sources told Reuters that Ukraine uses less than 1% of Indian-made weapons of the total ammunition that Kyiv imports.
According to Reuters, India is using the war in Ukraine as an opportunity to increase its arms exports. Customs data show that since the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, the export of Indian ammunition to Europe has increased from 2.8 million dollars to 135.25 million dollars.
India has maintained a neutral stance on the war in Ukraine, not joining Western sanctions against Russia, which supplies more than 60% of India’s total arms imports.