Media: Russia imports Italian Beretta rifles despite sanctions

The Italian arms manufacturer Beretta continues to export small arms to Russia through its subsidiary and the companies of Russian arms dealer Mikhail Khubutia, an investigation published by the Russian and Italian news outlets The Insider and IrpiMedia on Feb. 7 said.

According to it, Khubutia and Beretta Industrie SPA control the Russian Eagle LLC, which is the official distributor of Beretta products in Russia.

Of all arms supplied to Russia in violation of sanctions, almost half were made by Beretta-owned companies, the investigation said.

The EU banned the supply of rifled weapons to Russia back in 2014. Still, the export of sniper rifles, pistols, and ammunition through the Customs Union of the Eurasian Economic Union continued.

According to the Russian Federal Accreditation Service, goods of other arms brands owned by the Beretta holding continued to be imported to Russia during its full-scale war against Ukraine: Benelli, Beretta, Beretta Benelli Iberica, Sako, Stoeger and Tikka carbines, Norma, RWS, and Sako ammunition.

In most cases, these weapons were imported either by the Russian Eagle or Khubutia's companies affiliated with it.

In total, more than 835,000 rounds of ammunition and 5,900 small arms produced by the holding have entered Russia since the full-scale invasion in February 2022.

According to the report, Beretta is not the only Italian arms manufacturer whose products end up in Russia. CD Europe SRL, which produces rifles under the Marocchi and Breda brands, also continues to export them to Russia through the distributor Italruzhye LLC.

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The Kyiv IndependentAbbey Fenbert