Russia continues to purchase rifles and ammunition from EU and US despite sanctions – media

Russia annually purchases thousands of Western rifles and millions of rounds of ammunition from companies in the European Union and the United States despite years of sanctions. Source: The Insider Quote: "European weapon manufacturers and officials often not only turned a blind eye to Russia's aggression in Crimea and Donbas but also invested marketing budgets to expand distribution in the Russian market."

Details: A joint investigation by The Insider, Investigace.cz, IrpiMedia and Vlast.kz revealed that companies from the EU, the US and Turkiye have increased weapon exports to Central Asian countries such as Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan over the past three years.

The weapons are likely being re-exported to Russia through these countries, enabling sanctions circumvention. Quote: "The export of rifles and shotguns from Italy to Armenia has increased almost 30 times over four years. Kyrgyzstan did not purchase any weapons from Italy in 2020 and 2021, but it received 882 units in 2022 and 4,434 in 2023.

Weapon exports from Turkiye to Georgia rose from 8,426 units in 2019 to 18,843 in 2023." Details: The investigation also discovered links between the Luxembourg-based Beretta holding company and Russian firms. Journalists highlighted that the holding remains the majority owner of a Russian arms importer despite sanctions, directly violating both US sanctions and the EU Council's 2014 resolution.

Quote: "Its operations in Russia have not ceased, neither after the EU embargo was introduced nor following the beginning of the full-scale war.

Beretta's joint venture with weapon baron Mikheil Khubutia, the Russian Eagle company and other companies owned by Khubutia, received over a thousand weapons and over a million rounds of ammunition produced by European companies in the holding in 2024."

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