The Financial Times reported Thursday that Russia has secretly established a trade route to acquire crucial electronics from India to support its war efforts in Ukraine, citing leaked government documents and anonymous sources.
The Moscow-based Consortium for Foreign Economic Activity and International Interstate Cooperation in Industry (Ved MMKP) informed Russia’s Industry and Trade Ministry in October 2022 that it planned to spend 82 billion rupees ($976,650) on electronics components previously sourced from Western countries.
These components, essential for telecommunications, servers, and other advanced electronic systems, have both civilian and military uses, making them subject to stringent Western export controls.
Despite Western sanctions cutting off Russia’s access to these vital components, the Russian military continues to rely on them for missiles, drones, and electronic warfare systems. The FT report reveals that Ved MMKP outlined plans to use a “closed payment system between Russian and Indian companies” to bypass Western oversight. An unnamed Western official suggested that the consortium might be a “front” for Russian intelligence activities.
Russia has accumulated Indian rupees from increased oil sales to India amid ongoing sanctions, with trade between the two countries nearly doubling to $65 billion in 2023.
Although the specifics of how Russia implemented its covert trade plan remain unclear, customs records indicate a significant rise in Indian exports of sensitive electronics, as detailed in Ved MMKP’s report, starting from mid-2022.
An Indian firm, Innovio Ventures, is reported to have supplied at least $4.9 million worth of electronics, including drones, to Russia, and another $600,000 worth of goods to Kyrgyzstan, which has become a conduit for Russia’s imports of sanctioned items.
Additionally, at least one sanctioned Russian company, Testkomplekt, reportedly received $568,000 worth of electronic equipment for radio-electronic systems, according to the FT.
