India has risen to become the second-largest supplier of restricted critical technology to Russia, U.S. and European officials say, highlighting the challenge of efforts to block exports that are providing Energy for President Vladimir Putin’s war machine.
According to unnamed officials, India’s exports of restricted items such as microchips, circuits and machine tools crossed $60 million in both April and May, double the amount in the first months of this year. and soared to $95 million in July. separate reviews. India is only behind China.
What is even more frustrating to Ukraine’s allies, some of them say, is that the envoys who raised the issue received little response from their Indian counterparts. India’s Ministry of External Affairs declined to comment when asked about this trend.
The most recent data means that nearly a fifth of the sensitive technology entering Russia’s military industrial complex gets there through India, officials said.
The new data underscores the difficulty the United States and its allies have faced in limiting Russia’s ability to fight in Ukraine in the two and a half years since Putin’s forces invaded. The export of most such dual-use items directly to Russia is banned, so the country has had to buy them from third countries – sometimes from subsidiaries of Western companies or intermediary network unintentionally.
A State Department spokesman said Friday that the department would reiterate the growing concerns to government officials as well as Indian companies.
The United States and the European Union have focused most of their efforts on one technology list found in Russian weapons or needed to make them.
As allies work to restrict some of these routes – Türkiye and the United Arab Emirates are two major transit points – new hubs have emerged. According to the people, they include India, Malaysia and Thailand.
India’s role in transporting such goods poses an even greater challenge as US and EU policymakers want to nurture partnerships with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government even as he strengthened relations with Putin. India has also emerged as the top buyer of Russian oil despite its allies’ efforts to limit sales.
According to officials, the main driver of this change is the huge amount of rupees that Russia has accumulated from such oil sales.
India’s role as a transit point has made it the focus of attention from European Union and US sanctions agencies in recent months. Officials from these countries have visited several times in an effort to get authorities to control shipments, and some Indian companies have been subject to Western sanctions.
In July, US Under Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo wrote a letter to senior officials at the Confederation of Indian Industry warning about the sanctions risks posed by Indian companies and banks doing business with the government. faced by Russia’s military industry, according to a copy of the letter obtained by the firm. Bloomberg News.
