Afrasianet - Six Ukrainians and a U.S. citizen have been arrested for allegedly entering India's northeastern region without permits and then crossed into neighboring Myanmar to train armed groups in drone warfare.
The foreigners were arrested by the Indian police on March 13 at three different airports across the country.
According to Indian media reports, the US citizen was detained by the immigration office at the Kolkata airport, and three Ukrainians were detained in Lucknow, and three others in Delhi. It is not clear whether they are on their way to Myanmar or returning from the country.
India's National Investigation Agency (NIA) has charged with violating the country's "anti-terror" laws, and they will be detained until March 27.
Local police also arrested two other U.S. tourists on Saturday for driving drones near the coast guard headquarters in the southern city of Kochi — where India is harboring sailors from an Iranian vessel it hosted for military exercises in February.
Another Iranian ship hosted by India was torpedo attacked by the United States at the start of the war, embarrassing New Delhi and killing dozens of Iranian sailors.
Why were these Americans and Ukrainians arrested? What does this mean for India's relations with Myanmar, Ukraine and the US?
Here's what we know:
Who was arrested?
According to Indian media reports, seven foreigners arrested by the National Intelligence Agency were identified as Matthew Aaron Van from the United States, Horba Petro, Slivyak Taras, Ivan Sukmanovsky, Stefanikev Marian, Honcharuk Maxim and Kaminsky Victor, all of whom are Ukrainian citizens.
According to VanDyke's personal website, he was involved in the Iraq War and the civil war in Libya. He is the founder of a Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm called Sons of Freedom International. The organization's website says it "provides free security consultancy and training services to vulnerable groups to enable them to defend themselves against terrorist and insurgent groups." The company also conducted operations in Ukraine between 2022 and 2023, providing training and advice to the Ukrainian military in the use of non-lethal equipment.
Not much is known about the Ukrainian citizens who were arrested.
The NIA did not specify when foreigners entered India or when they crossed into Myanmar.
The two American tourists arrested in Kochi have been identified as 32-year-old Katie Michelle Phelps and 35-year-old Christopher Ross Harvey, both from California.
Why did India arrest the suspects in the Myanmar case?
The seven men were initially detained by the National Intelligence Agency for entering the northeastern Indian state of Mizoram without valid permits and then illegally transiting Myanmar.
This is not the first time that Indian security forces have arrested foreigners for entering the northeastern states bordering the subcontinent of Myanmar, which is about 1,640 km (1,020 mi).
In April 2025, police in Mizoram arrested a Belgian photojournalist for allegedly enteringthe state without valid travel documents and then crossing into Myanmar.
On March 16, the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) reported in a court in New Delhi that the seven foreigners had crossed into Myanmar to train armed groups fighting the military government in drone warfare.
According to The Indian Express, the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) said the accused were illegally involved in "importing huge shipments of drones from Europe to Myanmar via India" for the use of "ethnic armed groups". These groups have also supported "Indian insurgent groups" by supplying them with weapons and training them in "terrorist" activities, the agency said.
India's northeastern states such as Mizoram and Manipur, which border Myanmar's northern Chin state, have a turbulent history marred by ethnic tensions.
Ethnic groups from the states, such as the Kuki National Army (KNA) in Manipur, are also operating in Myanmar and have been actively fighting against the military government.
Therefore, India requires foreigners to obtain special permits before entering some of Myanmar's northeastern border states, especially since the military coup there in 2021.
Angshumman Chowdhury, a researcher and writer specializing in political and security issues on the India-Myanmar border, says the Indian government sees the India-Myanmar border as a major weakness, especially since it is still unfenced.
"Technically, anyone who crosses the border without a valid visa or permit under the Freedom of Movement (FMR) regime is subject to prosecution.
"Censorship tends to be higher when it comes to foreign journalists," he said.
Foreigners crossing into Myanmar from India to cover the conflict or support resistance forces there are not in themselves security concerns for India, he said.
"These forces have nothing to do with India and are waging their own war against the Myanmar military government," Chowdhury noted. "But the Indian state still considers its act of using Indian territory to cross into resistance-held territory as a violation of its sovereignty and a security risk.
This perception of the threat is heightened by concerns that their support for Myanmar's resistance forces may indirectly strengthen anti-India rebels, although evidence of this is still scarce."
Why is Ukraine involved in this?
In recent years, Ukraine has deepened its ties with India, but it has also been accused by human rights groups of supporting Myanmar's military government.
The six Ukrainians were arrested for allegedly supporting armed groups opposed to the government.
In September 2021, months after the military coup, Justice for Myanmar, a group focused on human rights abuses in the country, accused Ukraine of supporting the Myanmar military through arms exports and technology transfers.
Officials at the National Intelligence Agency told Germany 's DW News that it is possible that Russian authorities shared intelligence about the foreigners' movements.
Chowdhury said that would make sense, given Russia's growing ties with Myanmar's military government.
"From Moscow's point of view, the revelation of the presence of Ukrainian drone experts on the India-Myanmar border also confirms the Russian view that Kyiv is contributing to the destabilization of unstable regions around the world. "This could turn global public opinion against Ukraine and its Western allies such as the United States."
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused Ukraine of trying to "hide the incident and keep the suspicious activities of its citizens, which were clearly aimed at destabilizing the situation in the region, under wraps."
In a statement issued on March 20, Zakharova said the incident clearly showed that "the regime of the new Nazi Ukrainian president has a primary source of instability around the world."
Meanwhile, the United States has not yet commented on the arrest of its national.
A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy told Reuters that the country's embassy in India was aware of the arrest but could not comment on the case "for privacy reasons."
Why were American tourists arrested in Kochi?
Kochi, in the southern Indian state of Kerala, is home to sensitive installations belonging to the Indian Navy and Coast Guard.
The headquarters where U.S. tourists allegedly fly drones are located near it is located in what authorities have described as a red zone: drone activity there is strictly prohibited.
But the arrests also come as Kochi hosts more than 180 crew members of the Iranian warship Iris Lavan, which was granted emergency berthing permission in early March after the start of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.
The Iris Dina, another Iranian warship, was attacked by a U.S. submarine in the Indian Ocean, off Sri Lanka, at the start of the war while returning home from naval exercises hosted by India. The Iris Lavan was also part of those exercises.
What do these arrests mean for India's relations with the US, Ukraine and Myanmar?
Chowdhury said the arrests could boost trust between New Delhi and the Myanmar government in Naypyidaw, given the latter's growing military challenge from resistance forces on the border.
In the short term, he said, the arrests could "negatively impact the relationship between India and Ukraine."
Chowdhury said he believes that "both sides will rely on back channels to manage this issue — especially since Ukraine cannot afford India's aversion at this point."
He predicted that the incident would not significantly affect relations between India and the United States, as Matthew Van's relationship with the current US administration is unclear.
"Washington, D.C., may not consider him an important enough figure to damage its bilateral relationship with New Delhi, which is already tense but appears to be gradually returning to normal."
