Russian snipers continue to receive Western rifles and ammunition every year

...despite sanctions

Photo by Rex Allen on Unsplash

Russian snipers continue to receive thousands of Western rifles and millions of rounds of ammunition every year, despite years of sanctions.

In September 2024, long-range sniper shooting competitions were held at the Angarsky range in the annexed Crimea.

At a distance of 1600 meters, the most popular rifles among Russian precision shooters turned out to be the American Desert Tech SRS (7 participants out of 36), the British Accuracy International AXSR (7 participants out of 36), and the Austrian Steyr Mannlicher SSG (7 out of 36). At a distance of 3200 meters, the most popular rifles were once again the Desert Tech SRS (8 participants out of 28), Russian ORSIS (6 out of 28), and Accuracy International AXSR (6 out of 28). Twenty-four out of 28 participants preferred American Hornady and Berger ammunition over Russian-made options.

Russian-made rifles were used by only seven shooters, and just four opted for Russian ammunition.

Why is the Russian Ministry of Defense not satisfied with domestic weapons?

Russian rifles fall several times short of their Western counterparts in terms of shooting range. At the same time, products from private Russian producers have already reached prices comparable to American and European models. Finally, there is simply a shortage of rifles in the Russian army.

After halting direct shipments to Russia, companies from the EU, the US, and Turkey have dramatically increased deliveries to Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan. In a joint investigation with Investigace.cz (Czech Republic), IrpiMedia (Italy), and Vlast.kz (Kazakhstan), The Insider identified these routes, as well as the connections between several Western companies and Russian arms importers.

When the European Union countries imposed an embargo on arms supplies to Russia following the annexation of Crimea in 2014, two significant loopholes remained in the restrictions. First, Council Regulation (EU) No. 833/2014 of July 31, 2014, which banned arms exports to Russia, allowed new deliveries to be made under contracts signed before August 1, 2014. Second, the document did not include any controlling measures for exports to the countries of the Customs Union—Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan—which are linked to Russia through both a common customs space and the military-political organization of the CSTO.

For instance, the export of rifles and shotguns from Italy to Armenia increased from 68 firearms in 2019 to 1,862 in 2023.

Kyrgyzstan did not purchase any weapons from Italy in 2020 and 2021, but in 2022, it imported 882 units, and in 2023, 4,434 units.

Georgia imported 431 firearms from the United States in 2021, and in 2022, it increased imports nearly tenfold to 4,140 firearms.

The largest supply channel to Russia's neighbors remains the export from Turkey to Georgia, which grew from 8,426 firearms in 2019 to 18,843 in 2023.

The largest European manufacturer directly linked to Russian buyers of its products is the Luxembourg-based holding company Beretta. Another supplier of sniper rifles and hunting shotguns to Russia's neighbors is a small American gun shop, ABF, located in the modest town of Englewood, Colorado.

This material is based on the recent publication and investigation by The Insider which you can find here (in Russian).