India has been one of Russia's best customers for its discounted oil, helping to keep Russia's murderous attack on Ukraine funded. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi angered Ukraine and its allies when he visited war criminal Vladimir Putin a few weeks ago and embraced him, declining to denounce Russia's invasion. However, for some time, it appears that Indian-produced ammunition shipments are being diverted by European clients to Ukraine to support its defense against Russia. From Reuters:
"Artillery shells sold by Indian arms makers have been diverted by European customers to Ukraine and New Delhi has not intervened to stop the trade despite protests from Moscow, according to eleven Indian and European government and defence industry officials, as well as a Reuters analysis of commercially available customs data.
The transfer of munitions to support Ukraine's defence against Russia has occurred for more than a year, according to the sources and the customs data. Indian arms export regulations limit the use of weaponry to the declared purchaser, who risks future sales being terminated if unauthorised transfers occur. [snip]
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, 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 being used by Ukraine.
The Indian official said that Delhi was monitoring the situation. But, along with a defence industry executive with direct knowledge of the transfers, he said India had not taken any action to throttle the supply to Europe. Like most of the 20 people interviewed by Reuters, they spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter." (our emphasis)
The amounts of munitions are minor, but let's hope that India stays out of its European clients' business, and resists pressure from the Kremlin to intervene and stop the diversions. It's the least they could do, aside from stopping oil purchases from Russia.
2 comments:
If their munitions are anything like their pharmaceuticals, the Russians have nothing to fret about.
Frank - LOL!
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