New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency on Tuesday (September 8) filed a chargesheet against seven foreign nationals – six Ukrainians and one US citizen – whom it had arrested and charged under Section 18 of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967 in March. The chargesheet does not invoke the anti-terrorism law, said reports.Section 18 of the UAPA punishes anyone who plans, conspires or helps carry out a terrorist act.The NIA chargesheet invokes charges for their alleged illegal entry, stay and movement in India, said a PTI report. It says further investigation is required to confirm whether charges under the anti-terrorism law are to be invoked, said reports.It also confirms that the seven accused crossed over into Myanmar without the required permits and says that they went there to carry out pre-scheduled arms training and related activities.Earlier this year, the seven accused were reported to have valid visas to be in India but travelled to Mizoram without the mandatory Restricted Area Permit. It was reported that they had crossed into Myanmar, met ethnic armed groups there and delivered multiple consignments of drones from Europe.The NIA chargesheet, filed before Special Judge Prashant Sharma, accuses the seven of offences under sections 21 and 23 of the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2005, not related to the earlier terrorism charges.It also says that a “substantial part of the further investigation” related to UAPA charges has been completed, reports PTI, which said the NIA has said it needed “more time to ascertain and verify the true and complete facts about the commission of offences” under the anti-terrorism law.The six Ukrainian nationals have been identified as Kaminskyi Viktor, Hurba Petro, Slyviak Taras, Ivan Sukmanovskyi, Stefankiv Marian and Honcharuk Maksim. Each of them was intercepted at various domestic airports on March 13.Three of the Ukrainians were detained at Lucknow airport and three at Delhi airport, while the US national was held at Kolkata airport.The US national is identified as Matthew Aaron VanDyke. VanDyke is the founder of Sons of Liberty International, which he describes as a non-profit that provides “military training, advising, and supplies to forces fighting against authoritarian regimes and terrorists”.He has been working in Ukraine since March 2022 and also enlisted in the Armed Forces of Ukraine as a combatant. Last week, his Sons of Liberty International organisation cited VanDyke’s family as urging Washington to secure his release, alleging that he is innocent and is undergoing abuse in jail.Details of an FIR were also reported by RT India, claiming that some of the armed groups the seven arrestees had supplied weapons and training to in Myanmar were “also known to be supporting some proscribed Indian Insurgent Groups”.A day after their arrest, on March 14, the seven were produced before the duty magistrate, who remanded them to custody.On March 17, Ukraine lodged a formal protest with India, with Ambassador Oleksandr Polishchuk meeting MEA Secretary (West) Sibi George and handing over a note demanding the immediate release of the detained nationals and consular access to them. A court has extended their custody until March 27.On March 19, Ukraine’s embassy in India had questioned the basis of the NIA’s case against the six Ukrainians. It said that, going by media reports, the Russian side appeared to have provided the information that prompted the allegations against them.In a press release, the embassy had referred to “a possibly orchestrated and politically motivated nature of this case, as evidenced, in particular, by the facts known at this stage”.The embassy also invoked the joint statement issued following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Ukraine on August 23, 2024, in which the two sides had condemned terrorism in all its forms and called for international cooperation to combat it.“Proceeding from this shared position, Ukraine maintains that any allegation related to terrorism must be considered exclusively on the basis of verified facts, transparent procedures, and full intergovernmental cooperation,” the statement had said.“Further investigation under 193(9) BNSS may be allowed to be continued in order to unearth all the aspects of the larger conspiracy in the instant case against the arrested accused persons and others in the instant case,” the chargesheet said, as per PTI’s report.