Strider researchers tracked 50,000 controlled or sensitive goods from third countries that were routed to Russia through India after President Vladimir Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The firm analyzed customs data using globally standardized product codes to identify European-made products that were subsequently exported from India to Russia, revealing the scale of the trade for the first time. The products included electronics, machinery, precision instruments, transport equipment, metals and advanced electrical components.
Between the invasion and the start of 2025, the data shows a sharp increase in the export, from India to Russia, of sensitive or dual-use goods originating in the U.K. (+180 percent), Switzerland (+131 percent), Sweden (+455 percent) and France (+98 percent) compared to the three years before Moscow’s assault.
Export volumes of German-origin goods remain significant, even though the trade is declining.
Last year, French-origin carbon fibers reached a Russian firm designated as part of the country’s military-industrial complex, the researchers found. Carbon fiber is used in aerospace, drones, missiles and other defense products; the importer supplies multiple sanctioned firms.
Components originating in the EU or the U.K. also risk being assembled in India into finished products for onward shipment to Russia. State-owned defense conglomerate Rostec’s joint ventures with Indian partners under New Delhi’s “Make in India” manufacturing push underscore the hazard.
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