The Wall Street Journal reported on April 2 that the Maldives is being used as a transit hub for Western economic sanctions evasion by Russia. ^[1] Aeroflot, Russia's largest airline, lands daily at Male airport where local intermediaries help bypass customs to load Western and Chinese goods onto flights to Moscow. ^[2] Russian cargo documents and interviews with Western officials indicate that hundreds of millions of dollars worth of restricted goods flow through the Maldives to Russia annually. ^[3] The Maldives government faces pressure from the US and EU to block the route but is reluctant because Russian tourists are the second-largest group after Chinese visitors. ^[4] Russian sources indicate imports from the Maldives surged from $7 million in 2021 to $630 million in 2022 following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. ^[5] The Maldives has historically been a secondary destination for Russian tourists, ranking second only to China, but it is now a primary focus for sanction evasion. ^[6]