Russia, despite the EU embargo imposed back in 2014, continues to receive thousands of sniper rifles and millions of rounds of ammunition manufactured by Western companies.
According to a joint investigation by The Insider in collaboration with Czech outlet investigace.cz, Italian platform IrpiMedia, and Kazakh publication Vlast.kz these supplies flow in through neighboring countries.
The investigation revealed that over the past three years, companies from the EU, the US, and Türkiye have significantly increased their arms exports to Central Asian countries, including Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan. These countries likely serve as intermediaries, re-exporting the weapons to Russia.
"Exports to Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan have increased two and a half times over three years: from 19,556 firearms in 2020 to 53,211 in 2023," the publication states.
Over four years, Italy’s exports of rifles and shotguns to Armenia surged nearly 30-fold—from 68 units in 2019 to 1,862 in 2023.
Kyrgyzstan, which did not purchase weapons from Italy in 2020 and 2021, received 882 units in 2022 and an astonishing 4,434 in 2023. Similarly, Turkey’s arms exports to Georgia increased from 8,426 units in 2019 to 18,843 in 2023.
Investigators have identified the Luxembourg-based holding company Beretta as Europe’s largest weapons manufacturer with ties to Russia. In June of this year, Beretta's Russian importer was added to the US Department of Treasury's sanctions list. However, despite these sanctions, the holding company remains the majority owner of its Russian subsidiary.
Additionally, The Insider reports that Russian snipers, both civilian and military, continue to rely on Western-made rifles and ammunition rather than domestically produced weapons. This is evidenced by the records from sniper competitions held in September 2024 at the Angarsky training ground in occupied Crimea.
A recent Bloomberg investigation revealed that Russia, despite sanctions, continues to source US-manufactured technological components critical for the production of its weaponry.
