New Delhi, March 31 — Indian officials on Monday dismissed a report by The New York Times (NYT) alleging that a state-run defence firm has links to a Russian arms agency, calling it “factually incorrect” and “misleading.”
The NYT article claimed that military hardware from a British aerospace company, reportedly sold to the Indian firm, may have reached Russia’s blacklisted state weapons agency, Rosoboronexport. The report also alleged that one of the British firm’s major donors had supplied nearly $2 million worth of transmitters, cockpit equipment, antennas, and other sensitive technology to a Moscow-linked supplier.
Official sources, however, said the report distorts facts to fit a political narrative and overlooks basic due diligence. “The Indian entity mentioned in the report has scrupulously followed all its international obligations on strategic trade controls and end-user commitments,” a source said.
They stressed that India’s legal and regulatory framework on strategic trade guides its companies’ overseas ventures. “We expect reputed media outlets to undertake basic due diligence while publishing such reports, which obviously was overlooked in this case,” the source added.
