Russia defies sanctions, imports Italian Beretta rifles – The Insider

Despite sanctions, the Italian arms manufacturer Beretta continues to export firearms to the Russian Federation through its subsidiary and companies affiliated with Russian arms baron Mikheil Khubutia.

Source: an investigation by Russian publication The Insider and Italian IrpiMedia

The publication claims that one of the main suppliers of rifles to the Russian Federation is the so-called Russian arms baron, Mikheil Khubutia. Together with the Italian company Beretta Industrie S.P.A., he controls the LLC Russian Eagle, which is the official distributor of Beretta in Russia.

Despite the EU imposing a ban on the supply of rifled firearms to Russia in 2014, the export of sniper rifles, pistols, and ammunition through Customs Union countries continued. According to the data from the Russian Federal Accreditation Service (Rosaccreditation), goods from other firearm brands owned by the Beretta holding, such as Benelli rifles, Beretta, Beretta Benelli Iberica, Sako, Stoeger, Tikka carbines, and Norma, RWS, and Sako cartridges, have continued to arrive in Russia throughout the two years of war.

In most cases, the importers of this weaponry were either Russian Eagle, directly owned by Beretta, or companies associated with Russian Eagle, owned by Khubutia. Almost half of the sanctioned-violating weapon deliveries to Russia come from Beretta-owned companies. Since the start of the major conflict, over 835,000 cartridges and 5,900 firearms produced by the holding have entered Russia. In most cases, the importers were "Russian Eagle" and firms associated with Khubutia.

The imports of Mikheil Khubutia's companies can be divided into four product groups: pistols, hunting shotguns, sniper rifles, and ammunition for these types of firearms. State procurement data shows that law enforcement agencies and sports institutions preparing future shooters continue to purchase products from the Beretta holding.

It is mentioned that Beretta is not the only Italian arms manufacturer whose products end up in Russia. CD Europe S.R.L., producing rifles under the Marocchi and Breda brands, also continues to export them to Russia through the distributor LLC Italruzhie.

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