Male [Maldives], July 22 (ANI): Maldives is a transit level for shipments that circumvent sanctions in opposition to Russia, Nikkei Asia reported, including that it contains shipments of US-made semiconductors to Russia.
Approximately 400,000 US-made semiconductors, price a complete of USD 53.6 million, had been shipped to Russia through the Maldives, within the yr after Russia invaded Ukraine, as per Russian customs clearance information obtained from the Indian analysis agency Export Genius and analysed by Nikkei.
The data analysed coated shipments valued at over USD 50,000 (roughly seven million yen) every. The Maldives was second solely to China, together with Hong Kong, when it comes to such imports within the yr after the invasion. Records for the yr earlier than the invasion overlaying transactions of the identical minimal worth present no such shipments of chips from the Maldives to Russia, based on Nikkei Asia.
Data from the United Nations exhibits that the Maldives’ complete exports in 2021, excluding companies, got here to roughly USD 280 million. The worth of US semiconductor shipments from the Maldives to Russia is equal to twenty per cent of this determine.
Shipments of semiconductors elevated sharply in May 2022, the identical month that Russian airline large Aeroflot resumed flights between Male, the capital of the Maldives, and Moscow. The flights had been suspended because of the invasion of Ukraine that February.
According to senior consulting director at Omdia, Akira Minamikawa, this sudden enhance got here even though the Maldives semiconductor market is nonexistent.
Going by customs information, 14 exporters despatched semiconductors from the Maldives to Russia. None of these firms gave the impression to be primarily based within the Maldives.
Furher based on Nikkei Asia, one such firm, the London-headquartered Mykines Corp, exported roughly USD 40 million price of chips, or 80 per cent of the full shipments revealed within the Nikkei evaluation.
The No. 2 firm on the checklist was Hong Kong-based Pixel Devices. Pixel in an electronic mail to Nikkei acknowledged that it exports to Russian firms however stated it “strictly adheres to the export control laws applicable to Hong Kong entities” and “deemed not to violate any applicable regulations.”The firm declined to touch upon questions referring to potential sanctions violations in opposition to Russia or in regards to the Maldives.
Key to such shipments is freight forwarders or intermediaries that join shippers and transporters and deal with customs procedures on their behalf, based on Nikkei Asia. (ANI)