Red Passage: Russian-DPRK Munition Carrier Seeks to Transit the Suez

New analysis by the Open Source Centre (OSC) and the Financial Times shows the Maia-1, a sanctioned Russian vessel involved in ferrying North Korean munitions to the Russian military, arrived at the South Anchorage of the Suez Canal likely seeking to reach the Mediterranean Sea.

The vessel’s international voyage marks the first time that one of Russia’s DPRK munitions carriers has sailed out of East Asian waters and ventured further afield, despite the risk of Western interdiction.

Western governments have condemned DPRK-Russia military cooperation carried out in part by these vessels and encouraged the international community to “act in concert” with sanctions.

However, the Maia-1’s ability to navigate foreign waters, ports, and pay clearance fees unimpeded, represents a direct challenge to that call for action and the sanctions that underpinned it.