Ukrainian Embassy in New Delhi issues statement condemning Russia’s attempt to discredit its intentions in India

Mizzima

The Ukrainian Embassy in New Delhi issued a statement on 26 March condemning a Russian attempt to discredit Ukraine in India following the report of the detention of Ukrainian citizens along the India-Myanmar border.

Initial reports on 13 March claimed six Ukrainians and one American were detained by Indian authorities in Mizoram for entering a restricted border state without permission, crossing into Myanmar, training anti-junta armed groups, and facilitating the transfer of drones from Europe to these groups via India.

A senior police official in Mizoram later reportedly stated on 18 March that the suspects had not entered Mizoram through the airport but did not deny they had been detained. Additionally, the charges are still being investigated, and the circumstances remain disputed.

The text of the statement is as follows.

Recently, Russia’s Ministry of Propaganda, which also masquerades as its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, issued a comment by its so-called “official representative” regarding the detention of Ukrainian citizens in India.

According to Indian media reports, it was Kremlin-linked provocateurs who passed to the competent authorities of India fabricated “information,” concocted within FSB structures, about supposed Ukrainian “terrorists.” This bears all the hallmarks of a deliberate disinformation operation typical of the Russian special services, which systematically use fabrications as a tool of foreign policy and seek to draw India into a political script not of its own making.

It appears that Moscow still operates under the false assumption that it can interfere in the internal affairs of other states and use India as an instrument for advancing its own geopolitical interests. Such an approach is not merely mistaken – it is outright insulting to a nation with a millennia-old civilizational tradition, a strong democratic system, and independent institutions. It reflects a profound disregard for India’s sovereignty and a failure to understand that its system of justice neither can nor will operate on the basis of external political instructions.

It is revealing that Russian “official representatives” are issuing “verdicts” before the ongoing investigation has even been concluded. This appears to be an attempt to reduce Indian institutions to mere instruments for the formal validation of decisions already made in Moscow. Yet such conduct is entirely consistent with the behaviour of a totalitarian regime that persecutes its own citizens at home and wages an unprovoked, barbaric war against Ukraine, killing innocent civilians every day in aerial attacks.

Such logic is characteristic of Russian imperial thinking, in which “partnership” is reduced to subordination and “cooperation” to obedience. Within this paradigm, other states are seen not as equal partners, but as instruments expected to carry out the will of the metropole.

At the same time, it must be made unequivocally clear: India is a sovereign democratic state, and a court in New Delhi is not a branch of Moscow’s Khamovnichesky or Lefortovsky district courts, widely known for for politically motivated verdicts, grave human rights abuses, and contempt for international law.

We also wish to recall that the leader of present-day Russia is a dictator whom international justice has found to be implicated in war crimes. On 17 March 2023, the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for Putin, having found sufficient grounds to hold him individually criminally responsible for war crimes, in particular the unlawful deportation and forcible transfer of population, especially children, from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine to Russia.

Systematic interference in the internal affairs of other states, manipulation, disinformation, and open contempt for the UN Charter are hallmarks of contemporary Russian foreign policy. Russia continues to export sabotage and terrorism through networks of private military and security structures operating in dozens of countries around the world. This is an internationally recognized fact.

Back in 2021, the European Union imposed sanctions on the Wagner Group for grave human rights abuses and the destabilisation of entire regions, from Ukraine to Africa. After Russia’s full-scale invasion, these measures were substantially broadened to target not only Wagner fighters and commanders, but also the economic networks sustaining their operations, including those linked to the illicit extraction of natural resources.

On 23 November 2022, the European Parliament adopted, by an overwhelming majority, a resolution recognising the Russian Federation as a state sponsor of terrorism and as a state that uses means of terrorism.

The United States responds consistently and firmly to the activities of Russian private military companies, classifying them as “transnational criminal organizations” and as an instrument of Russia’s destabilization, violence, and shadow influence in the world.

More than 12,000 instances of Russia’s use of prohibited means of warfare against Ukraine have been documented, which has, in particular, drawn condemnation from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

As regards Myanmar, the international community has repeatedly delivered a clear political assessment of developments in the country. The UN General Assembly Resolution 75/287 of June 2021 condemned the military coup and called upon all Member States to prevent the flow of arms into Myanmar. United Nations Security Council Resolution 2669 of December 2022 explicitly demands an immediate end to all forms of violence against civilians.

Against this background, particular attention should be paid to Russia’s role as one of the key suppliers of arms to Myanmar’s military structures, which objectively affects the level of tension and the broader security situation in the region. In February 2026, the parties signed a military cooperation programme for 2026–2030. Within this framework, the regime in Myanmar received six Su-30SME fighter aircraft in March this year, while Mi-38T helicopters had already been supplied earlier. In addition, Moscow provides training for Myanmar military personnel.

Despite Russia’s attempts to manipulate the situation and use India in its game against Ukraine, the official statements of Indian law-enforcement authorities are particularly telling. On 18 March 2026, Stephen Lalrinawma, Superintendent of Police, CID (Special Branch), Mizoram Police, stated that even under enhanced border surveillance no suspects had been intercepted. He further noted that no terror-related activity had been detected and that there had been no report of any terror link or untoward activity affecting Mizoram so far.

These statements are important because they do not substantiate the allegations being circulated and point to the absence, at this stage, of any established evidence to support them. They also underscore the need for a cautious and measured assessment of the situation based on verified facts, rather than unverified information or disinformation.

Ukraine has confidence in India’s system of investigation and justice, which is currently facing unprecedented informational and political pressure from Russian special services and propaganda.

In this context, we call on the competent Indian authorities not to yield to provocations and to ensure an independent, impartial, and fair consideration of the case. The Ukrainian side reaffirms its full readiness to cooperate and to take part in a transparent investigation aimed at establishing the objective truth.