The Reuters report cited conversations with officers and an evaluation of customs knowledge.
New Delhi:
Dismissing a report by information company Reuters claiming that ammunition offered by Indian producers has been diverted to Ukraine by European clients and New Delhi didn’t cease the commerce, the Ministry of Exterior Affairs has termed it “inaccurate and mischievous”.
Answering questions on the report, MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal mentioned on Thursday, “We have now seen the Reuters report. It’s speculative and deceptive. It implies violations by India, the place none exist and, therefore, is inaccurate and mischievous.
Emphasising that India has an impeccable monitor file of compliance with worldwide obligations on the export of army and dual-use gadgets, Mr Jaiswal added, “India has been finishing up its defence exports bearing in mind its worldwide obligations on non-proliferation and based mostly by itself sturdy authorized and regulatory framework, which features a holistic evaluation of related standards, together with end-user obligations and certifications.”
In its report, Reuters cited conversations with eleven Indian and European authorities and defence business officers and an evaluation of commercially out there customs knowledge to say that artillery shells offered by Indian arms producers had been diverted to Ukraine by European clients and the Indian authorities didn’t intervene to cease the commerce regardless of protests from Moscow.
The report mentioned the provision of munitions, which have helped Ukraine within the struggle in opposition to Russia, had been occurring for over a yr and the Kremlin had raised the difficulty with India not less than twice, together with in July, throughout a gathering between Overseas Minister S Jaishankar and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.
It mentioned Indian arms export rules specify that weaponry can be utilized solely by the declared purchaser and future gross sales to them may be stopped if there are unauthorised transfers.
“Two Indian authorities and two defence business sources advised Reuters that Delhi produced solely a really small quantity of the ammunition being utilized by Ukraine, with one official estimating that it was below 1% of the entire arms imported by Kyiv for the reason that struggle. The information company could not decide if the munitions had been resold or donated to Kyiv by the European clients,” the report mentioned.
“Among the many European nations sending Indian munitions to Ukraine are Italy and the Czech Republic, which is main an initiative to provide Kyiv with artillery shells from exterior the European Union, in response to a Spanish and a senior Indian official, in addition to a former high govt at Yantra India, a state-owned firm whose munitions are being utilized by Ukraine,” it added.
