Despite many years of sanctions, the aggressor country russia continues to receive thousands of Western rifles and millions of cartridges through neighboring countries. In recent years, such supplies have only increased.
This is stated in a joint investigation by The Insider, Investigace.cz (Czech Republic), IrpiMedia (Italy) and Vlast.kz (Kazakhstan).
Thus, the investigators state that in recent years, companies from the EU, the U.S. and Türkiye have increased arms supplies to Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Tens of thousands of weapons are imported to these countries every year.
"Exports to Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan have increased two and a half times in three years: from 19,556 barrels in 2020 to 53,211 in 2023," the journalists' material says.
In addition, the investigation showed that exports 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, in 2022 it received 882 weapons, and in 2023 – 4,434. Exports of weapons from Türkiye to Georgia increased from 8,426 units in 2019 to 18,843 in 2023. It is noted that the largest European weapons manufacturer associated with the aggressor country russia was the Luxembourg holding Beretta. In June of this year, the russian importer Beretta was included in the sanctions list of the U.S. Treasury Department. However, the Beretta holding, despite the sanctions, remains the majority owner of the russian company.
The investigators also note that the Ministry of Defense of the aggressor country, the russian federation, is not satisfied with domestic weapons, because russian rifles are several times inferior to Western ones in terms of firing range. At the same time, the products of private russian gunsmiths have already caught up in price with American and European models.
"Finally, there is a banal shortage of rifles in the Russian army," the journalists concluded.
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, India, according to European and American officials, has become the second largest supplier of critical technologies to russia after China in the context of sanctions imposed against it.
Who we are: About us, Contacts. How we write news and our principles: Editorial code. We did our best. If you found this valuable – please support us.
To request a correction, please send an email.