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Russian Snipers Continue to Receive Western Rifles and Ammunition Despite the Arms Embargo

Western arms and ammunition continue to reach Russia through neighboring states and customs-union loopholes, even as direct exports remain formally banned.

Как западное оружие и патроны продолжают попадать в Россию в том числе через Казахстан

Vlast · By VLAST KZ · 11 December 2024 · read the original in Russian →

Российские снайперы продолжают ежегодно получать тысячи винтовок и миллионы патронов западного производства, несмотря на эмбарго на поставки оружия, введенное десять лет назад. Компании из Еевросоюза, США и Турции прекратили прямые поставки в Россию, но при этом в два с половиной раза увеличили отгрузки в Армению, Грузию, Казахстан, Кыргызстан и Узбекистан с начала вторжения России в Украину.

Russian snipers continue each year to receive thousands of Western-made rifles and millions of rounds of ammunition, despite the arms embargo imposed ten years ago. Companies from the European Union, the United States, and Turkey have halted direct deliveries to Russia, but since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine they have increased shipments to Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan two and a half times over.

«Власть» публикует главное из совместного расследования с изданиями Investigace.cz (Чехия), IrpiMedia (Италия) и The Insider (Россия).

Vlast publishes the key findings from a joint investigation with Investigace.cz in the Czech Republic, IrpiMedia in Italy, and The Insider in Russia.

A Loophole in the Customs UnionЛазейка в таможенном союзе

In September of this year, long-range sniper shooting competitions were held at the Angarsky range in Russian-occupied Crimea. Snipers from special units of the Russian Defense Ministry, law-enforcement agencies, and civilian marksmen took part.

The competition records show that, despite the long-standing export ban, American, British, and Austrian rifles were the most popular among Russian shooters at every distance. At the 3,200-meter distance, 24 of the 28 competitors chose American Hornady and Berger cartridges over Russian ammunition.

The Insider managed to identify the supplier of one of the shooters: Sergei Kirichenko, a Moscow resident. He has been professionally involved in sniper shooting since at least 2018 and is able to invest millions of rubles in his pursuit. Judging by his shooter profile at the Center for Sport Sniping, over six years he successively changed four sniper rifles: first a Finnish Tikka T3 for a Russian ORSIS, then for an Austrian Mannlicher, and now he uses an American Proof Research.

One notable fact about the supply of Proof Research rifles from the United States to Russia is that permits for at least some of them were issued both in Russia and in Kyrgyzstan. For commercial companies to import goods into the territory of the Eurasian Economic Union and clear them through customs, a document from Rosakkreditatsiya is required: either a certificate or a declaration of conformity.

In Russia, documents for Proof Research rifles were obtained in September last year by Andrei Shishin. In Kyrgyzstan, meanwhile, certificates were obtained by the arms distributor LLC Enterprise-Store Edelweiss.

Judging by its tax reporting, Edelweiss’s business took off after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine: the amount of taxes paid by the firm rose from 20.03 million soms in 2020 to 37.91 million in 2023. For the industry, that remains a modest figure.

After the annexation of Crimea in 2014, European Union countries imposed an embargo on arms supplies to Russia, but allowed new deliveries under existing contracts concluded before August 1, 2014.

At the same time, the regulation did not provide for any export controls to EAEU countries: Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan, which are linked to Russia both by a common customs space and by the CSTO military-political bloc. In addition to the countries listed, the CSTO also includes Tajikistan; as of this year, Armenia has effectively ceased participating in the organization. V.

According to UN Comtrade data analyzed by The Insider, these countries receive tens of thousands of weapons every year. In all, exports to Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan grew two and a half times over three years: from 19,556 barrels in 2020 to 53,211 in 2023. Georgia is not a member of either the EAEU or the CSTO; Uzbekistan also belongs to neither of these organizations. V.

At the same time, Comtrade data show only the country of dispatch, not the country of origin of the cargo. For example, when an Italian gun shop sells a German Sauer carbine to a buyer in Kazakhstan, Comtrade statistics will show only an export from Italy to Kazakhstan.

Tracing the Path of the WeaponsНайти путь оружия

The St. Petersburg company Alliance, which for many years was the Russian distributor of Czech Meopta Optika optical sights, Sellier & Bellot cartridges, and Česká Zbrojovka rifles and pistols, continues to receive Czech products even after the start of the war in Ukraine. According to Rosakkreditatsiya, from 2022 to 2024 Alliance received 251 Česká Zbrojovka carbines.

And while Alliance receives optical equipment through Turkey, deliveries of Czech cartridges to Russia go through Kazakhstan.

Thus, on April 5, 2024, the Kazakh arms distributor Anna LLP purchased 838.6 kilograms of cartridges from the Sellier & Bellot JSC factory for $29,571.51.

Most of the cartridges in this batch were rifle calibers .30-06 Springfield and .308 Winchester, used by both civilian hunters and the military.

Four months after receiving the cargo, on August 28, 2024, Anna LLP obtained a special permit from Kazakhstan’s transport committee to carry dangerous goods. The items listed for transport were sporting ammunition, cartridge cases, and primers, and the delivery address matched the address in St. Petersburg where the Russian company Alliance is located.

Sellier & Bellot, responding to a request for comment, said that it does not work with Anna LLP and currently has other partners in the country. The company stressed that decisions on issuing transport permits are made by Kazakhstan’s local authorities.

“According to our information, Anna has its own ammunition production. It is therefore quite likely that it exports products of its own manufacture to Russia,” Sellier & Bellot also replied.

A significant share of the weapons sent to Russia’s EAEU neighbors comes from the manufacturers themselves, though there are exceptions here as well.

One of the many companies supplying sniper rifles and hunting shotguns to Russia’s neighbors is ABF Inc., a small American gun shop from the town of Englewood, Colorado.

According to customs data, in 2022 and 2023 this firm supplied Kazakhstan with 53 rifles made by Accuracy International, Cadex, FN Herstal, Patriot Ordnance Factory, and Proof Research. In Kazakhstan, information about the sale of these rifles is unavailable; but at least two of these weapon brands can be found at a Russian company that previously worked with ABF Inc.

In 2021, the company shipped 40 Inforce tactical lights for hunting weapons to the Russian importer Varyag LLC. Even after the start of the full-scale war, Varyag continued to receive American and European weapons. In 2022-2024, the company obtained certificates of conformity for the import of 193 Accuracy International, Barrett, Cadex, and Desert Tech rifles and 213 Glock pistols. All these brands are not merely available in the store’s online display window. In October 2024, Varyag showed two stands with samples of American and European rifles at the OrelExpo exhibition in Moscow’s Gostiny Dvor.

The Colorado store’s trading partner in Kazakhstan, and the recipient of these rifles, was PTO Kazokhotrybolovsoyuz LLP, or KORS. It is one of the largest arms importers, founded in 1993, and its business has shown steady growth since the start of the war. According to the company’s reporting, the amount of taxes it paid rose from 97.9 million tenge in 2021 to 143.6 million in 2022 and 193.2 million in 2023. Yet despite the growth in its financial indicators and the delivery of six premium rifle brands at once, not one of the brands listed above is available for purchase in KORS’s online store.

The German firm Hans Wrage & Co GmbH, which in the past worked closely with the Izhevsk Mechanical Plant, Izhmash, and the Barnaul Cartridge Plant, also continues to make deliveries to Russia.

Customs data confirm that Hans Wrage continues active work with Russian clients, having given up only direct deliveries of weapons and ammunition. And while direct shipments of weapons to Russia have stopped, arms exports to Kazakhstan have shown significant growth since the start of the war.

In 2022 and 2023, Hans Wrage & Co supplied at least 309 Italian Benelli shotguns to its long-time partner, the Kazakh gun shop Korgan Center, and to the distributor Olympic Shymkent LLP.

The taxes paid by these firms have risen by 112 percent and 172 percent respectively since the start of the war. A previous investigation by The Insider showed that at least some of the weapons imported by Olympic Shymkent LLP ended up on the shelves of Orel LLC, a store owned by the Russian arms baron Mikhail Khubutia. According to customs data, an Italian Beretta DT11 Anniversario shotgun and a German Sauer 404 Stutzen carbine were supplied to Kazakhstan in July 2023, and in February 2024 those same models appeared on a Moscow shop counter.

In 2022-2024, Hans Wrage & Co sold at least 176 Blaser carbines to the Kazakh arms distributor Korgan Center LLP. A correspondent for Correctiv, investigating the smuggling of German weapons into Russia, visited Korgan’s showroom in 2023 posing as a buyer. Three branded stands of Blaser rifles were half empty, and when the salesperson in the showroom was asked about the possibility of buying a rifle and arranging transport to Russia, he replied: “Not easy, but possible.”

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