Matthew VanDyke, arrested along with six Ukrainians, claims his jailing was tied to the hostilities between Moscow and Kiev<\/p>\n
The freelance US military instructor who was accused of training terrorists in Myanmar but later released by an Indian court on bail has alleged that he is a pawn caught up in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
\nMatthew VanDyke, described in court as a mercenary who has worked in Libya, and six Ukrainians who were arrested along with him, were granted bail in September after New Delhi\u2019s top anti-terror agency failed to file charges against them on time.
\nThe seven were detained in various cities in India, having returned to the country from Bangladesh, and were preparing to fly on.
\n\u201cIndia threw me and several Ukrainians in prison for over six months,\u201d VanDyke posted on X. \u201cThis was part of Russia\u2019s war against Ukraine.\u201d
\nHe added\u00a0that he will reveal \u201cshocking details\u201d about what happened over the next few months.
\nIndia\u2019s National Investigation Agency (NIA) had earlier reportedly found evidence that VanDyke had delivered multiple consignments of drones from Europe to individuals and groups in the northeastern Indian state of Mizoram. It is not known from where the drone components were transited to Myanmar, where local insurgent groups are reportedly linked to rebel outfits in India\u2019s northeast region.<\/p>\n
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US mercenary to get special food in Indian jail<\/p>\n
In a series of posts on X, VanDyke claimed that he had not been accused of \u201cdoing anything against India.\u201d
\n\u201cThe Indian government never even alleged that I was smuggling arms in India,\u201d he posted.
\nVanDyke, who claims he runs a charity called Sons of Liberty, which provides military training in conflict zones, insisted \u201cwe do our missions for free and I spent money, I didn\u2019t make money from it,\u201d and that he will present for a court hearing in February 2027.
\nIn August, VanDyke posted an appeal by his family on the Sons of Liberty International letterhead appealing to US diplomats to intervene and secure his release.
\nHis family has also claimed the US ambassador to India, Sergio Gor, briefed Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio about VanDyke in May.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: Jailed Ukrainians launched drone attack on Myanmar passenger plane \u2013 Delhi<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Matthew VanDyke, arrested along with six Ukrainians, claims his jailing was tied to the hostilities between Moscow and Kiev The freelance US military instructor who was accused of training terrorists…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40891,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t