Russia is still importing coveted Western goods, enabled by a global network of middlemen. Read more at straitstimes.com.
DUBAI - On a dusty roadside on the outskirts of Dubai, Sohrab Fani is profiting from the West’s response to the war in Ukraine: His shop installs seat heaters into cars being re-exported to Russia.
Just about all of the West’s leading electronics, automobile and luxury brands announced last year that they were pulling out of Russia. Not all of their goods technically violate sanctions, but commerce with Russia became very difficult in the face of public outrage, pressure from employees, and restrictions on semiconductor exports and financial transactions.
In other cases, Russian car dealerships, having lost their official affiliations with Western brands, are organising their own imports, sometimes of hundreds of cars at a time. The owner, who requested that he only be identified by his last name, Tura, said he shipped hundreds of smartphones and laptops into Russia last year before the holiday season. One potential buyer wanted a quote for 15,000 iPhones, Mr Tura said, but apparently found a better deal elsewhere.
The new trade routes largely pass through countries that have friendly relations with Moscow. Western analysts and officials have pointed to Turkey, China and former Soviet republics like Armenia and Kazakhstan as countries redirecting Western goods to Russia. They say that the Kremlin is taking advantage of those imports not just to mollify a populace used to foreign phones and cars, but also to source microchips for weapons used against Ukraine.
Western car companies generally deny knowledge of their cars going to Russia in any significant quantities, or of a spike in sales in the Emirates.Paul Jacobson, the chief financial officer of General Motors, said: “I’m not aware of anything going to Russia.”
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