The Insider: Russia buys arms and ammunition from EU and USA

Despite years of sanctions, Russia annually buys thousands of Western rifles and millions of rounds of ammunition from companies in the European Union and the United States. No one sells them directly, but through third countries, significant quantities of various weapons reach Russia and are then used in the war in Ukraine. The Insider writes about it on Wednesday, December 11.

Journalists have discovered that in recent years, companies from the European Union, the United States (USA) and Turkey have begun to send more weapons to Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.

“The export of weapons to these countries increased two and a half times in three years: from 19,556 guns in 2020 to 53,211 in 2023,” the publication said.

Investigators note that the export of rifles and shotguns from Italy to Armenia increased almost 30 times in four years – from 68 weapons in 2019 to 1,862 in 2023. Kyrgyzstan did not buy weapons from Italy in 2020 and 2021, but received 882 weapons in 2022, and 4,434 in 2023. Arms exports from Turkey to Georgia increased from 8,426 in 2019.

Europe’s largest arms manufacturer linked to Russia has become the Luxembourg company that holds Beretta. In June 2024, the Russian importer of Beretta was included in the sanctions list of the US Treasury Department. Holding Beretta, despite the sanctions, remains the majority owner of the Russian company.

Among German gunsmiths, Hans Wrage & Co from Hamburg maintains connections with the Russian Federation. Its head, Frauke Löhmann, still owns 15.96% of Russia’s Rusimpex.

“Despite the war in Ukraine, this company continues to import to the Russian Federation Japanese Miroku carbines, German Anschutz, Krieghoff hunting rifles, Ruag Ammotec and RWS cartridges, including army calibers,” wrote The Insider.

“Russian snipers, both civilian and military, continue to use Western rifles and cartridges instead of Russian weapons. This is confirmed by the protocols of the sniper competitions held in September at the Angarsk training ground in the annexed Crimea,” wrote The Insider.

EU countries imposed an arms embargo on Russia after the annexation of Crimea in 2014. But, as noted in the investigation, there are still no measures to control exports to the countries of the Customs Union – Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, which together with Russia share a single customs space and the military-political bloc CSTO.

The Ukrainian missile-drone Palyanitsa has entered mass production. The serial production of R-360 cruise missiles of the Neptune complex was also continued and increased.