The Maldives Has Become an Exotic Bypass for Russian Sanctions Evasion

The Maldives, which attracts two million tourists annually, has also become a site for shipping goods to Russia in order to evade Western sanctions. According to documents obtained by The Wall Street Journal and conversations with Western officials, goods worth hundreds of millions of dollars, subject to Western sanctions, have changed hands at the local airport. Some of these items are intended for both civilian and military use, including aircraft parts and electronic components.

The volume of goods passing to Russia through the Maldives is relatively small compared to major channels such as China, Turkey, and the UAE. However, this flow illustrates the breadth of Moscow's efforts to evade sanctions, as even remote corners of the globe are being utilized as transit points.

Documents, including bills of lading and emails exchanged between logistics companies, reveal how the system operates:

1. A commercial Aeroflot flight lands every morning at the airport in the islands' capital, Male.

2. Teams working with Russian companies facilitate the passage of American, European, and Chinese goods through customs.

3. The goods are loaded onto the plane and arrive in Moscow two hours later.

At this stage, they are distributed to sanctioned entities, including the Russian airline S7 and its affiliated maintenance companies, which have struggled to obtain spare parts. Other shipments passing through Male include chips suitable for missile guidance systems, optical devices for satellites, and rivets intended for both commercial and long-range missiles.

The success of this transport route is linked to economic ties with the archipelago. Russians are the second-largest group of tourists arriving in the Maldives after the Chinese, and diplomatic friction could harm an economy still recovering from the coronavirus pandemic.