Russia manages to import Western ammunition despite sanctions

Russia continues to purchase ammunition for its Orsis T-5000 sniper rifles. This is happening to circumvent EU sanctions over the war in Ukraine.

This was reported by Politico.

According to the publication, one of the importers is Promtechnologiya LLC. This company is already under sanctions and is a manufacturer of Orsis T-5000 sniper rifles. They were spotted in service with Wagner PMC mercenaries.

In the course of the investigation, Politico journalists found certificates of this company for the import of more than 100,000 rounds of .338 Lapua Magnum ammunition and 5,000 cartridge cases of this caliber manufactured by the U.S. company Hornady.

In a comment to the publication, Hornady CEO Steve Hornady said that his company allegedly does not trade with Russia.

"We categorically are NOT exporting anything to Russia and have not had an export permit for Russia since 2014. We do not support any sale of our product to any Russian son-of-a-b*tch and if we can find out how they acquire, if in fact they do, we will take all steps available to stop it," he said.

In addition, it is known that another Russian company, Tetis, in April 2023 declared the import of more than 300,000 rounds of ammunition for hunting rifles of various calibers from the same Hornady catalog. According to Politico, the company's founders are connected to the Russian Defense Ministry.

The article also mentions the Slovenian company Valerian d.o.o. It is a manufacturer of .338 caliber ammunition. Although the company's management excludes exports to Russia, journalists say that they could have been exported through third countries, in particular, some batches were exported to Kyrgyzstan.

Author – Anastasiya Glotova, 19/06/2023