NEW DELHI — American private military operative Matthew Aaron VanDyke asserted Wednesday that Indian authorities cleared him and six Ukrainian nationals of acting against Indian national security, claiming the group merely transited through Indian territory on their way to Myanmar.
New Delhi stayed silent. The Ministry of External Affairs declined to comment on VanDyke's assertions, which follow his release on bail after more than six months inside Tihar Jail. VanDyke, who heads the US-based Sons of Liberty International, took to X to claim his arrest was an extension of Moscow's war against Ukraine — promising to release disclosures about his imprisonment in the coming months.
"The Indian government clearly stated that the Ukrainians and I did nothing against India and only transited India on our way to Myanmar," VanDyke posted on Wednesday. "We never had any bad intentions towards India. Reading on X that some in India were misinformed and angry at us has been quite a surprise."
His tone shifted abruptly from the day prior. On Tuesday, VanDyke lashed out at Indian authorities for locking him up.
India threw me and several Ukrainians in prison for over six months. This was part of Russia's war against Ukraine... I will reveal shocking details about this story over the next few months.
Matthew Aaron VanDyke, Sons of Liberty International founder
Federal counter-terror investigators tell a far more tangled cross-border story.
National Investigation Agency operatives arrested the group across three major aviation hubs on March 13. Sleuths intercepted VanDyke at Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata, while law enforcement picked up Ukrainian nationals Petro Hurba, Taras Slyviak, and Ivan Sukmanovskyi at Lucknow airport. Simultaneously, counter-terror units detained Marian Stefankiv, Maksim Honcharuk, and Viktor Kaminskyi at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport.
Security agencies suspected the men operated as foreign mercenaries. According to the NIA probe, the seven foreign nationals entered the country on tourist visas in December 2025. They then slipped across the porous Indo-Myanmar border to reach Camp Victoria — a major insurgent redoubt in Myanmar — to provide drone tactics and combat training to Ethnic Armed Groups. Security officials feared those training modules would leak into Northeast insurgent networks hostile to the Indian state.
Investigators slapped all seven with harsh provisions under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act alongside the Foreigners Act. VanDyke spent half a year inside Tihar's Jail 8/9. On August 31, his family petitioned Washington for urgent diplomatic pressure, alleging Indian jail wardens held him in solitary confinement and stripped him of basic consular rights.
The prosecution's case shifted dramatically when federal agents filed formal paperwork.
Presenting the chargesheet before Special Judge Prashant Sharma, the NIA stepped back from immediate terror charges. Prosecutors booked the seven men strictly under Sections 21 and 23 of the Immigration and Foreigners Act, telling the court that investigators required additional time to ascertain and verify complete evidence regarding alleged UAPA violations.
The court granted the men one-month bail. Special Judge Sharma then cleared VanDyke to fly home to the United States on the condition that he join the ongoing criminal trial through video conferencing.
| Case Parameter | Official Status |
|---|---|
| Primary Accused | Matthew Aaron VanDyke (US national) |
| Ukrainian Co-Accused | Petro Hurba, Taras Slyviak, Ivan Sukmanovskyi, Marian Stefankiv, Maksim Honcharuk, Viktor Kaminskyi |
| Enforcement Agency | National Investigation Agency (NIA) |
| Arrest Locations | Kolkata, Lucknow, and Delhi airports (March 13) |
| Chargesheeted Offences | Sections 21 & 23, Immigration and Foreigners Act |
| Initial Terror Invocation | UAPA dropped pending further evidentiary verification |
The Geopolitical Standoff: VanDyke, who founded Sons of Liberty International in 2014 to train non-state forces against authoritarian regimes, has sought to frame his legal jeopardy in Delhi as collateral damage from the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Yet the NIA chargesheet grounds the prosecution entirely on unauthorized border entry and paramilitary instruction in Myanmar's rebel enclaves, keeping the Foreigners Act prosecution alive as VanDyke mounts his defense from abroad.
| Detention Site | Tihar Jail 8/9 (over six months) |
| Judicial Relief | One-month bail; permission to attend trial via video link |