Russian imports from Maldives soar 90-fold since invasion of Ukraine

Filed 1d ago · Via NV · The Buffoon Desk

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Marty Gots a Plan

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Diplomatic Security Service from Washington, D.C., United St · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons

The Wall Street Journal reported that a network of companies in the Maldives has been helping Russia route hundreds of millions of dollars in restricted goods, some with military uses, through one of the country's airports. Aeroflot flights reportedly arrive each morning, get cleared by local intermediaries working with Russia-linked logistics firms, and head back to Moscow within hours carrying aircraft parts, electronics, and other goods bound for sanctioned entities like S7 Airlines.

Russian imports from the Maldives rose from under $7 million in 2021 to more than $630 million in 2022, despite the country having virtually no domestic industry of its own. A source told the paper that Maldivian customs authorities are understaffed and rely on paperwork rather than physical inspection of transit cargo, and that Western officials are pressing the government to close the channel.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

You don't need a factory to become an industrial hub, apparently, just an airport and a light touch with the inspectors. A country famous for beach resorts turning into a waystation for missile-grade parts is the kind of detail that makes a sanctions regime look like a fence with a gate nobody bothered to lock. Somebody in Malé is going to have some explaining to do once the invoices catch up with the flight logs.

Source: Read the original at NV → Scored: Marty Gots a Plan · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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