President Mohamed Muizzu today denied rumors that the Maldives is planning to purchase missiles through a Turkish company.

What Happened: Turkey recently announced its decision to donate a military vessel to the Maldives.

During today’s press conference at the President’s Office, a journalist asked about rumors regarding plans to purchase missiles for the vessel and whether the President had met with an executive from a missile manufacturing company.

Details: In response to the question, the President denied any plans to purchase missiles.

“An ambassador from a foreign country met with me and expressed great concern about these missile rumors. I told him, ‘No, these are completely false stories. We are not trying to purchase missiles. We will not buy missiles, nor are we seeking to acquire any,'” the President said.

The President explained that the vessel is being donated by the Turkish government as part of the close relationship between the two countries.

“It’s a size that the Maldives hasn’t had before… We didn’t have to incur any expenses for it. We are not buying missiles for it. It doesn’t have missiles installed either,” the President stated.

Turkey’s Anadolu Agency, citing officials from the Turkish Defense Ministry, had reported that the vessel being donated to the Maldives under the military agreement between the two countries is a TCG Volkan, P-343 model, which has missile-launching capabilities.

The President acknowledged today that a senior official from a Turkish weapons manufacturing company is a close friend of his. However, he emphasized that this relationship has no connection to his official actions.

Notable: President Muizzu also stated today that the Maldivian military has been neglected over the past 20-25 years, and that enhancing military capability is an absolute necessity.