Russia flags supply of India-made 155mm artillery shells to Ukraine
India-made ammunition reaching Ukraine through Europe in the third quarter of last year.
ET has learnt that the matter was raised by Moscow recently.
This follows reports circulating among Russian and Ukrainian sources that Ukraine possibly received Indian 155mm artillery shells.
As India is not among the nations supplying ammunition to Ukraine, the suspicion is that the ammunition was sent to Kiev by a third party through either Slovenia or Poland.
People in the know said the security establishment is probing the possibility of India-made artillery landing up in a third country via arms dealers or in collusion with a partner country. These were indirectly procured through a third-party, according to sources.
A Western country, in all probability, procured the 155mm artillery shells from India and has since transported it to Ukraine via a European state which is a NATO member, the sources alleged.
The development is interesting as over the last one-and-a-half years it was Pakistan that has been at the forefront of arms supply to Ukraine at the behest of the Western powers, either via Poland or Germany.
The UK's ministry of defence had entered into a deal with the Pakistan Ordnance Board to supply arms to Ukraine.
Ukraine-Pakistan defence partnership has been a phenomenon for the last three decades, with Islamabad procuring key defence equipment from Kiev.
ET had reported last June that arms from Pakistani was shipped to Ukraine through Jordan and Poland on a US flagged ship. The items shipped included air defence vehicles, multiple barrel rocket launchers, recovery vehicles, cartridges and spare parts.
Pakistani firm Kestral Trading established a firm in Warsaw allegedly under the name 'Balferrten Investments' to
