Ukraine has lodged a formal protest with Indian government regarding the March 13 arrest of six of its citizens, whom Indian authorities allege repeatedly entered Myanmar via Mizoram and trained ethnic insurgent groups in drone operations, along with a US national with a reportedly controversial background, Hindustan Times reported on Wednesday.
As per the officials, the NIA has notified the US and Ukrainian embassies, as well as the families of the arrested individuals, about the detentions.
However, the Ukrainian foreign ministry said in a press release that its embassy did not receive “any official notification from the competent authorities of India regarding the detention of Ukrainian nationals.”
According to a statement from the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, Ukraine’s ambassador to India, Oleksandr Polishchuk, met with Sibi George, Secretary (West) at India’s Ministry of External Affairs, and submitted an official note of protest demanding the immediate release of the Ukrainian nationals and access to them for consular purposes.
The note said that while the Ukrainians received legal assistance and defence counsel during the court proceedings, embassy officials were not allowed direct access to communicate with the detainees during the March 16 hearing.
“We draw attention to the fact that there are certain restricted-access zones in India for foreign nationals, entry to which is possible only with special permits. At the same time, proper marking of such areas on the ground is often absent, which creates a risk of unintentional violation of the established rules,” the note said.
Meanwhile, the US Embassy spokesperson said: “We are aware of the situation. For privacy reasons, we cannot comment on cases involving US citizens.”
“The EAGs they were training and supplying with weapons and other terrorist hardware are known to be supporting some banned Indian Insurgent Groups (IIGs), which affects the national security and interest of India,” an NIA officer said, adding, “We are trying to unearth the entire conspiracy and a hunt is on for others.”
On March 13, six Ukrainian nationals were arrested at Delhi and Lucknow airports during a National Investigation Agency (NIA) operation, which also apprehended US citizen Mathew Aaron Van Dyke at Kolkata airport.
Delhi court on Monday remanded all seven all seven to NIA custody until March 27. The agency informed the court that it is also searching for eight additional Ukrainians. According to the NIA, all 15 entered India illegally on tourist visas and had trained ethnic groups in Myanmar that collaborate with anti-India insurgent organizations.
The six arrested Ukrainians have been identified as Hurba Petro, Slyviak Taras, Ivan Sukmanovskyi, Stefaniv Marian, Honcharuk Maksim, and Kaminskyi Viktor, officials said.
As per the court documents, the NIA filed a case under Section 18 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, which addresses conspiracy, advocacy, abetment, or incitement to carry out a terrorist act.
The counter-terrorism and law enforcement agency, informed the court that Dyke and the six detained Ukrainians confessed during questioning to providing training to ethnic armed groups (EAGs) on multiple occasions, and to illegally importing large shipments of drones from Europe to Myanmar via India for the use of these groups.
According to his website, Van Dyke, a native of Baltimore, has worked as a soldier, war correspondent, columnist, and international businessman. He describes himself as a veteran of the Libyan revolution, a former prisoner of war there, and the founder of the military contracting company SOLI (Sons of Liberty International).
