Ukraine nationals detained in India: Is Russia involved?

A high-profile investigation against foreign nationals is gaining pace in India. Six Ukrainian citizens and an American are alleged to have violated the country's anti-terror laws and have been detained by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). They will be held in custody for questioning until March 27.

The case might also take on a political dimension because it is possible that Russia might have provided the information about the Ukrainian nationals to New Delhi, NIA sources told DW.

The Ukrainians and the US citizen were arrested at the airports of Calcutta, Lucknow and Delhi on March 13. Little is publicly known about them. According to the NIA and court documents seen by DW the names of the Ukrainians are Petro H., Taras S., Ivan S., Marian S., Maksym H. and Viktor K.

DW follows the German media code of conduct whereby media outlets do not publish the full names of suspects.

The American national, Matthew V., reportedly participated in the Iraq war and the Libyan civil war after 2011 as well as the war in Ukraine. He also founded a Washington-based security consulting firm called Sons of Liberty International. According to its website the company is non-profit and "provides free security consulting and training services to vulnerable populations to enable them to defend themselves against terrorist and insurgent groups." The company was also involved in training soldiers in Ukraine who are fighting Russia in the war there, the website says.

Indian authorities: Detained Ukrainians part of larger network

According to the NIA's report and its remand submissions before the court, the group entered India legally on tourist visas but then travelled eastward to the state of Mizoram, an area requiring special permits for foreign nationals, which they did not possess.

From there, investigators allege, they crossed illegally into Myanmar through informal routes along the porous India-Myanmar border.

Investigators suggest that the seven arrested men may represent part of a larger network. According to their information as many as 14 Ukrainian nationals entered India on tourist visas on different dates, travelling to Indian city Guwahati and then onto Mizoram without the required permits.

From illegal border crossing to terrorism charges?

The Ukrainians and the American detained by the NIA were initially accused only of unauthorized presence in India's Mizoram state and of allegedly illegaly crossing the India-Myanmar border. However, at a court hearing on March 16, prosecutors brought additional allegations, saying the detainees had been involved in training of armed groups based in Myanmar, as well as operating drones and the illegal importation of large consignments of drones from Europe to Myanmar, via India.

Investigators said the training focused on drone warfare, including assembly, deployment and jamming techniques.

Armed insurgent activity along the India-Myanmar border dates back to the 1960s, when Indian rebel groups used Myanmar's remote border regions as bases for operations, including attacks on Indian security forces as well as arms and drug smuggling.

The 2021 military coup in Myanmar strengthened ethnic armed organizations in areas such as Chin state, which borders India's Mizoram. India views this as a security concern, given the 510-kilometer (317-mile) porous border, which enables the movement of fighters, weapons and illicit networks across the frontier.

Ukraine has supplied armored personnel carriers and other military equipment to Myanmar since 2015 and continued to do so after the military coup in 2021. In September 2021, human right activists in Myanmar urged Kyiv to halt its military cooperation with the junta.

Did Russia leak intelligence information?

According to DW's sources in the NIA it could have been the Russian authorities that shared intelligence information about the foreign nationals. The Ukrainian embassy in India also pointed to the "possible orchestrated and politically motivated nature of the case.”

In a statement published on its website, the embassy rejected "any insinuations regarding the possible involvement of the Ukrainian state in supporting terrorist activities” and said that Ukraine "has no interest in any activity that could pose a threat to the security of India.”

"Ukraine is a state that faces the consequences of Russian terror on a daily basis and, for this very reason, takes a principled and uncompromising stance in combating terrorism in all its forms,"  the statement said.

A response from Moscow followed fast. Spokeswoman for Russia's foreign ministry Maria Zakharova accused the Ukrainian foreign ministry of "remaining silent on its citizens' violation of India's counter-terrorism legislation” and "baselessly accusing certain Indian and Russian news agencies of deliberately falsifying the facts."

Ukraine's foreign ministry pointed out that, so far, there was no evidence linking the detained Ukrainians to any illegal activity in India or Myanmar.

It also added that, despite established international norms, Kyiv was not officially informed of the arrests. In its response to a DW request on March 18, the ministry said that Ukrainian consuls had not been granted access to the detainees. Although the diplomats helped organize legal representation and attended the court hearing, they were not given the opportunity to speak with the detainees directly, the ministry said.

Pramod Kumar Dubey, the lawyer for the detained US citizen, also rejected the charges and called the detention illegal, citing violations of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.

NIA source: Case brings two wars together

Meanwhile India's security establishment views the case seriously. "What this episode ultimately emphasizes is how conflicts that appear geographically distant are no longer insulated from one another,” a senior NIA official told DW, speaking on condition on anonymity.

"The movement of fighters, the transfer of technology, and the emergence of informal logistical networks are increasingly binding different theaters together in ways that are difficult to track and harder to regulate,” he added.

This article was originally written in Ukrainian.