Russia is managing to bypass sanctions through clandestine routes in the United Arab Emirates. Since sanctions were imposed following Vladimir Putin's territorial grab in Ukraine, the UAE has become a highly attractive investment opportunity for Russians.

Dubai's financial centre has recruited Russian bankers for special units to manage money-rich Russians and their Rubles. Thousands of accounts have been opened for sanctions evaders since Russia invaded Ukraine.

These actions are just a few grains in a much larger sand dune of financial miscreance that, as this report shows, enables Russia to not only hide its wealth but also gain access to the hard currency its war economy needs, and even obtain, via the UAE, equipment that is being used by Russia's military on the battlefields of Ukraine. The world has fractured into rival camps, and in the emerging wrangling over which set of alliances has global preeminence, the BRICS states pose a very real challenge to the institutions which were established as a result of the Second World War.

In this quasi-conflict the UAE, has positioned itselfas the launderers and bankers for the BRICS in general and Russian finance in particular. .