German Investigators Expose How Russia Buys Weapons From Western Countries

Russian trading companies are still able to purchase firearms and ammunition from the United States and some European countries. Mostly, the Russians circumvent sanctions through third countries that have joined international restrictions on the terrorist country.

This is stated in an investigation by the German Correctiv project.

According to the investigation, since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, nearly 7,300 firearms and about eight million rounds of ammunition manufactured by Western companies have been imported into Russia.

The list of companies whose weapons are still being used by the Russian military includes the American companies Smith & Wesson, Barrett Firearms and Desert Tech, a number of European arms manufacturers such as Austrian companies Glock and Steyr Arms, as well as several German manufacturers: Thuringian company Merkel Jagd- und Sportwaffen GmbH, ammunition manufacturers Nammo Schönebeck, RWS and RUAG Ammotec, and Blaser from the Alhau region.

Investigators found that at least 50 AR15 automatic rifles, a type of weapon used by the US military and the German Bundeswehr, were shipped to Russia.

German researchers also found a photo taken near the city of Bakhmut, Ukraine, published this March, depicting a member of the Russian PMC Wagner terrorist group with a firearm manufactured by the American company Desert Tech.

In addition to rifles, pistols manufactured in the EU have also been massively supplied to Russia. For example, since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, at least 2,580 pistols made by the Austrian manufacturer Glock have been imported into Russia.

Firearms are usually imported to Russia through third countries that do not support Western sanctions.

Journalists have noticed a sharp increase in imports of hunting and sporting weapons from Germany to a number of countries, including the UAE, Hungary, North Macedonia, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

For example, in the first half of 2023, Kazakhstan imported 1,015 firearms from Germany. As a member of the Eurasian Economic Union, Kazakhstan is not obliged to report its trade with Russia, which means that, according to investigators, Russian customers can purchase weapons there without any hindrance.

This September, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) included 14 importers of equipment from the German manufacturer SPINNER, whose machines were transferred to a Russian plant in Turkey, in a sanctions list.

Earlier, The Gaze has already investigated how Western companies continue to upgrade Russian missiles that kill Ukrainians and described the main schemes that allow Russia to avoid Western sanctions.