"An Enemy, Not a Neutral!": Former UK Navy Officer Slams India's Russian Arms Reliance and 'Dark Fleet' Oil Deals ๐ฌ๐ง๐ฎ๐ณ๐ท๐บ๐ฅ
New Delhi/London - In a scathing critique that has sent ripples through diplomatic and defense circles, a former senior officer of the Royal Navy has branded India "an enemy, not a friend or a neutral," due to its continued reliance on Russian arms and its alleged involvement in "dark fleet" oil deals. The provocative remarks, from a source identified as Tom Sharpe, a 27-year veteran of the Royal Navy, come amidst ongoing global tensions surrounding Russia's actions in Ukraine. ๐ก
Sharpe, in a blistering opinion piece, argued that any nation armed by Russia and actively financing President Putin's regime through oil trade "is an enemy. What else would you call it?" His comments highlight a growing frustration in some Western quarters over India's geopolitical balancing act, particularly its significant defense ties with Moscow and its substantial imports of discounted Russian crude oil since the conflict in Ukraine began. โฝ๏ธโ๏ธ
The former UK Navy officer specifically pinpointed India's "dark fleet" oil deals as an area of grave concern, accusing New Delhi of "duplicity." He asserted that Indian refiners are "guzzling discounted crude" often transported by shadowy tankers that obscure their movements to circumvent Western sanctions. Sharpe further claimed that by profiting from this trade, India "flouts global rules" while maintaining a "coy silence" to avoid accountability, effectively "financing Putin's atrocities." ๐ฐ๐ข
Adding fuel to the fire, Sharpe pointed to reports from April 2025, revealing that Russian insurers received India's approval to cover tankers shunned by Western firms. This, he argued, allows for deliveries above the G7's $60-per-barrel price cap. "Modi's refusal to address insurance loopholes or vessel opacity shows a man who doesn't care about right and wrong, only money," Sharpe declared, directly implicating India's leadership in his accusations. "He is quite willing to finance Putin if it means cheaper oil: in this, he is an enemy of the West, not a friend and not a neutral." ๐ง
Beyond the oil trade, Sharpe also questioned India's enduring military reliance on Russian hardware. While acknowledging India's gradual diversification of its defense procurement, he remained unconvinced of a fundamental moral shift. He cited examples like Russia's "supposedly unstoppable" Kinzhal and Zircon weapons, which he noted "have both proven to be very stoppable using American made interceptors," suggesting potential vulnerabilities in India's Russian-origin arsenal. He even quipped about an "anti-submarine frigate that cannot move slowly and quietly [which] is not a great deal of use." ๐๐ฅ
India has historically been a major purchaser of Russian military equipment, with a significant portion of its armed forces' arsenal being of Russian origin. While India maintains its foreign policy of strategic autonomy and non-alignment, this latest criticism from a prominent Western military figure underscores the growing pressure on New Delhi to align more closely with Western sanctions and geopolitical stances, or face the prospect of being viewed less as a neutral party and more as an active enabler. The debate over India's strategic choices and its role on the global stage is clearly far from over. ๐๐ค
