More than a few eyebrows were raised when an WSJ report earlier this month highlighted that the Maldives was serving as a back door route to Russia for goods subject to Western sanctions, among them those in the dual, civil-military use category.
The Maldives? The tropical paradise of 1,000 islands, the ultimate dream destination for holidaymakers worldwide with its bright, white-sand beaches and clear, shallow turquoise waters? Really?
The goods are loaded on to a daily flight operated by Russian national carrier Aeroflot from the Maldives’ capital, Malé to Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport.
The WSJ gained access to air waybills, a cargo manifest and emails exchanged between logistics companies to corroborate the claims.
Goods worth hundreds of millions of dollars have been moving from the Maldives to Russia each year including microchips, optical equipment used in satellites tracking enemy troop movements, high-resistance aerospace bolts and rivets, and aircraft components which have both civil and military applications, it noted.
Some goods have ended up at sanctioned entities, one example being S7 Airlines, Russia's largest domestic carrier, which has found it difficult to source parts and components for its aging fleet.
Paperwork-checked shipments, no physical inspection
According to a local media source, the Maldives Independent, the Maldivian government’s chief spokesperson, Mohamed Hussain Shareef 'Mundhu' told reporters at an informal briefing recently that the authorities were seeking to establish the accuracy of the WSJ report and that, if proven, action would follow.
But at the same time, he cast doubt on the ability of Maldives Customs to inspect transit cargo – an allusion to limited staff resources which only allows shipments to be paperwork-checked rather than subjected to physical inspection.
In addition, from a legal standpoint, it is not clear whether violations of unilateral US and European sanctions constitute breaches of Maldivian legislation.
Already a ‘Transshipment Concern’
While astonishment probably sums up the reaction to the claims that a tourist hotspot is facilitating Russia’s access to potentially dual-purpose goods to aid its war effort, the Maldives has been “a transshipment concern” for some time, according to the Miami-based Association of Certified Sanctions Specialists (ACSS), which provides sanctions and export control expertise.
“The WSJ’s reporting aligns with patterns we have been tracking,” its founder, Saskia Rietbroek, told AJOT.
“To give you a concrete example from a case in 2023: A Dutch-Russian national, ‘Dmitri K’, used the Maldives as a transit point to ship microchips and drone components to Russia. According to court documents, he issued falsified invoices listing a Maldivian company as the recipient of goods that could no longer be exported to Russia because of sanctions. The goods were collected from his house in the Netherlands and exported to the Maldives. From there, they were re-exported to Russia. This was a text-book case on using Maldives as a transit hub to conceal the true destination of the goods—Russian defense firms.”
She added: “As Western enforcement agencies focused heavily on primary transit hubs – such as the UAE, Türkiye, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan – the ‘bad guys’ have adapted. They will follow the path of least resistance. Other countries like the Maldives became alternatives routes for sanctioned goods to reach Russia.”
2023 also saw the US Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) suspend the export privileges of a Maldives-based freight forwarder, Intermodal Maldives, that was registered weeks after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
It found that between May and October 2022, Intermodal shipped more than 200 consignments of mostly aircraft parts to Russia, which was not the destination on export control documents.
In July 2023, Nikkei Asia reported that approximately 400,000 US-manufactured semiconductors were shipped to Russia through the Maldives in the year after the war commenced. The volume was second only to China.
Import Data Now Restricted
Data from US-based research company, Import Genius, showed Russian imports from the Maldives increased from less than $7 million in 2021 to more than $630 million in 2022.
This decreased to $160 million in 2024 but Import Genius’ research director William George underlined in the WSJ report that the figures were likely to have understated the genuine volume as a result of Russia starting to censor some of the data in 2024, before blocking access to it altogether to since early-2025.
The Maldives-Russia trade flow is a relative trickle compared to an estimated $15 billion in sanctionable Russian imports annually transiting through major channels such as China, Turkey and the UAE, as well as Central Asia.
However, it nevertheless demonstrates the lengths to which Russia is prepared to go to evade sanctions, while also indicating how much of a hindrance they have become to the Putin regime.
Tourism and Extensive Air Connections
As to how the Maldives has emerged as an unsuspected trading back door to Russia, one needs to look no further than its ebullient tourist sector and the extensive air transport connections that support it.
The archipelago welcomes around two million holidaymakers each year from around the globe, with Russians being the second-largest national grouping, just behind the Chinese.
They are transported on non-stop daily and multiple-daily year-round flights by the likes of Emirates, Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways and Turkish Airlines – each of them a major cargo carrier with a global presence and who have continued to serve the Russian market since the Ukraine war began.
Chinese carriers are also well-represented including China Eastern Airlines, Beijing Capital Airlines, Xiamen Airlines and Chongqing Airlines. They are joined by Singapore Airlines and SriLankan Airlines, as well as Air France and British Airways, on a seasonal basis. And, of course, there is Aeroflot too.
So, the bellyhold cargo capacity clearly exists to channel a broad range of goods to the Maldives and from there on to Russia either via direct or connecting flights.
Pressure to be Ramped Up?
The obvious question now is will the latest exposure of the Maldives-Russia back-door trade route lead to US and European authorities stepping up efforts to close it down?
At the recent press briefing attended by the Maldives Independent, government minister Mundhu denied that Washington and Brussels were ramping up the pressure on the Maldives government.
Contacted by the AJOT, a spokesperson for the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), of the US Treasury, said it was the agency’s general policy not to comment publicly on allegations.
As for the European Commission, an official, speaking off the record, told the AJOT that reports that the jurisdiction of the Maldives has emerged as a transshipment hub for restricted, sensitive, sanctioned goods was “a matter of significant concern and are being closely examined.”
The European Union remained resolute in denying Russia the goods, technology, and funds it needs to sustain its illegal war of aggression against Ukraine, the official emphasized.
“We will continue working to identify the main circumvention routes and shut them down and keep increasing the pressure: sanctioning companies tied to Russia’s military-industrial complex, targeting financial institutions linked to Russian payment systems, and going after Shadow Fleet vessels.”
At the same time, the EU Sanctions Envoy will continue to work closely with third countries authorities to find systemic solutions to address sanctions circumvention, the official added.
