Austrian arms hit Russian market despite EU embargo

Since February 2022, the beginning of the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine, at least 169 rifles and pistols from the Austrian arms company Steyr Arms have ended up in Russia, according to the Russian emigration portal Insider. The company has denied these reports.

In October 2022, as part of the latest sanctions package, the European Union banned the export of all types of firearms to the Russian Federation. According to Insider, in February 2023, 11 Steyr sniper rifles were shipped to the Moscow arms wholesaler Arsenal. Investigative journalists reported that Arsenal currently offers 20 Steyr Arms models for sale. The remaining arms were supposed to go to other recipients in Russia.

Additionally, Insider revealed that out of the 3,606 Glock pistols exported to Russia, 3,203 were manufactured by Glock GmbH, headquartered in Austria. The remaining 403 were produced by the American subsidiary Glock Inc. However, the report's authors could not determine how many of them reached Russia before the EU embargo on arms exports took effect.

Representatives of Steyr Arms responded to the publication's accusations, stating that the company has not supplied any weapons to Russia since the war began. In an interview with ORF Radio Upper Austria, they said they checked the data published by Insider regarding deliveries and available serial numbers of the weapons. The review showed that the rifles and pistols were delivered to Russia several years ago, and their fate has been unknown to the manufacturer since then.

Meanwhile, despite numerous requests from journalists, Glock has not commented on the allegations made in the report.

Insider noted in its publication that Austrian weapons likely reached Russia through third countries and independent intermediaries. One of these intermediaries was identified as a Cypriot trading company, which British authorities also suspect of smuggling weapons to North Korea.