Europe's increasing trade with India requires a more proactive approach to economic security, says new Strider report

• Research reveals more than 50,000 sensitive goods – including components used in UAVs, missiles, and aerospace systems – have reached Russian defence entities via India since 2022.
• Sensitive goods reaching Russia through India have surged from key European economies such as the UK, Sweden, and Switzerland.
• Strider's report highlights how Russia is expanding its presence across India's manufacturing, research, and technology ecosystems alongside European governments and businesses.
• The report recommends that European governments and businesses integrate economic security measures into supply chain, investment, and research decisions as engagement with India grows.

LONDON, July 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Strider Technologies, the leading provider of strategic intelligence, has today published a new report uncovering how Russia is circumventing sanctions to access sensitive components through Indian intermediaries, exploiting the manufacturing, trade, and research ecosystems that power Europe's relationship with India.

As Europe strengthens its commercial relationship with India through the landmark EU–India Free Trade Agreement and Security and Defence Partnership, and as the UK enacted its own closer trading relationship with the country earlier this month, Strider research shows that increased engagement with emerging economies can simultaneously serve as engines of growth and vectors of economic security risk.

Strider's report – Contested Ground: Russia's Parallel Engagement in India and the Risks to Europe's Economic Security – finds that, since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, more than 50,000 sensitive goods, or goods that could have dual-use applicability, have reached Russian defence companies via Indian supply chains. These include fibre optic components and high-performance processors that can be used in advanced military systems, including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), missiles, and aerospace technologies.

Many of these goods originated in European economies.

• Between 2022 and 2025, there was a 180% increase in UK-origin sensitive goods exported from India to Russia when compared to 2019 to 2021.
• During that same time period, there was a 455% and a 131% increase in sensitive goods originating from Sweden and Switzerland, respectively.
• There was also a sharp increase in these same types of goods from allied, non-European origin countries. From 2022 to 2025, there was a 529% increase from Australia, a 459% increase from the United States, a 253% increase from Japan, and a 180% increase from Canada.

"Europe and the UK's new trade agreements with India mark an important step in strengthening economic resilience and deepening ties with one of the world's most significant growth markets," said David Vigneault, Strider's Chief Intelligence Officer.  "But today's geopolitical environment means governments and businesses need a clear-eyed view of the competitive landscape alongside these opportunities.

"Our research shows that Russia is leveraging many of these same manufacturing, research, and technology ecosystems to preserve access to critical capabilities and evade sanctions," Vigneault continued.

"This isn't an argument against closer engagement with India; quite the opposite. It's a reminder that economic security needs to be built into commercial decision-making from the outset. Companies that invest in supply chain due diligence and risk intelligence now will be best placed to capture the benefits of new markets without taking on unintended long-term vulnerabilities," Vigneault concluded.

The report also notes that shared academic networks and talent pools can carry knowledge outward as easily as any physical supply chain. Strider research found that since 2022, co-authored publications between Russian and Indian research institutions have remained elevated at more than 2,000 a year - particularly in AI, where Russian and Indian universities have signed multiple cooperation agreements since 2022.

As India deepens its role as a global manufacturing and import hub for Western-origin goods, the country enhances its attractiveness to Russia as an intermediary node in Moscow's sanctions mitigation strategy. For European firms operating in India, the risk lies in inadvertent exposure. The report concludes by recommending actions leaders in both the public and private sector can take to identify and manage risk within global commercial environments, such as expanded supply chain transparency, end-use monitoring, and strong alignment between commercial strategy and economic security policy.

The full report, Contested Ground: Russia's Parallel Engagement in India and the Risks to Europe's Economic Security, is available here.

About Strider

Strider is the leading strategic intelligence company empowering organisations to secure and advance their technology and innovation. Leveraging cutting-edge AI technology alongside proprietary methodologies, Strider transforms publicly available data into critical insights. This strategic intelligence enables organisations to proactively address and respond to risks associated with state-sponsored intellectual property theft, targeted talent acquisition, and third-party partners. Strider has operations in 16 countries around the globe with offices in Salt Lake City, UT; Washington, DC; London; Tokyo; and Sydney.