Reuters: Indian Firm Sent Military-Grade Explosives To Russia Despite US Warning

India-West News Desk

WASHINGTON, DC — An Indian company shipped $1.4 million worth of a powerful explosive compound to Russia in December 2024, according to Reuters, raising concerns in Washington over potential violations of sanctions related to the Ukraine war.

The shipments, made by Ideal Detonators Private Limited, a firm based in Telangana, involved HMX — a high explosive with both military and limited civilian uses. The compound, also known as octogen, is widely used in missile and torpedo warheads, rocket motors, and other advanced weapons systems, according to the Pentagon’s Defense Technical Information Center.

Reuters reported that one of the Russian recipients of the HMX shipments was Promsintez, an explosives manufacturer with ties to Russia’s military, according to an official from Ukraine’s SBU security service. The official told Reuters that Ukraine had targeted a Promsintez-owned factory in a drone strike earlier this year.

Customs records reviewed by Reuters show that two shipments were sent to Russian companies in December. One, valued at over $1 million, went to Promsintez; the other, worth more than $400,000, was purchased by High Technology Initiation Systems. Both firms are based in Samara Oblast, near Russia’s southern border with Kazakhstan. The shipments arrived in St. Petersburg.

The U.S. Treasury Department has labeled HMX as “critical for Russia’s war effort” and warned foreign businesses and financial institutions that involvement in such transfers may result in sanctions. While the U.S. State Department did not directly comment on the shipments identified by Reuters, it said the risks of doing business with Russia’s defense sector have been made “repeatedly clear” to India and other partners.

India’s foreign ministry said it conducts exports of dual-use materials “in line with international obligations and under a robust legal and regulatory framework.”

While India has deepened its ties with the U.S. in recent years to counterbalance China, it has continued to maintain strong economic and defense relationships with Moscow. Trade between India and Russia has surged, particularly in oil, even as Western governments seek to isolate Russia economically.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Vladyslav Vlasiuk told Reuters that while India is not a major route for sanctions evasion, “isolated cases can occur.”