A year after Russia invaded Ukraine, approximately 400,000 US-made semiconductors worth USD53.6 million were shipped to Russia via the Maldives, reports Russian customs clearance data obtained from Indian research firm Export Genius, analyzed by Nikkei.
Records analyzed covered shipments valued at over USD50,000 each.
Maldives was second only to China, including Hong Kong in terms of such imports that are clear attempts to circumvent sanctions against Russia. Interestingly, records for the year prior to the invasion covering transactions of the same minimum value showed no such shipments from Maldives to Russia.
According to United Nations, the Maldives’ total exports in 2021, excluding services came to approximately USD280 million; the value of the US semiconductor shipments from the Maldives to Russia is 20% of this value.
Data also showed that the shipments increased sharply in May 2022, which coincided with Russian airline Aeroflot’s resumption of flights between Male’ and Moscow.
The data also showed that 14 exporters that appeared on the documents for shipping the semiconductors are based in the Maldives.
One such company is London-based Mykines Corp., which exported roughly USD40 million worth of chips.
The Financial Times on the other hand reported that in April 2023, Mykines shipped about USD1.2 billion worth of electronic equipment to Russia.
An official with the Maldives Customs Service had apparently spoken to Nikkei informing them that data on transshipments is “not included in export statistics and the data is not available.” Transshipment involves items being transported to another country without going through customs clearance in the intermediary country, which may be the case with the Maldives.