An Indian company shipped $1.4 million worth of an explosive compound with military uses to Russia in December, according to Indian customs data seen by Reuters, despite U.S. threats to impose sanctions on any entity supporting Russia’s Ukraine war effort.
One of the Russian companies listed as receiving the compound, known as HMX or octogen, is the explosives manufacturer Promsintez, which an official at Ukraine’s SBU security service said has ties to Moscow’s military. The official said that Ukraine launched a drone attack in April against a Promsintez-owned factory.
The other Russian company is a subsidiary of Spanish explosives manufacturer Maxam, which is itself controlled by New York-based private equity firm Rhone Capital.
The U.S. government has identified HMX as “critical for Russia’s war effort” and has warned financial institutions against facilitating any sales of the substance to Moscow. According to the Pentagon’s Defense Technical Information Center and related defense research programs, HMX is widely used in missile and torpedo warheads, rocket motors, exploding projectiles and plastic-bonded explosives for advanced military systems.
The HMX sale to Russian firms has not been previously reported.
