Exposed: Czech Weapons Still Flowing to Russia via Third Countries

Kristina Vejnbender (Investigace.cz),
Sergey Panov (The Insider)
Photo: Russkiy Oruzheynik Telegram channel 2025-01-09

Investigations More From Our Partners

Despite sanctions imposed a decade ago on the import of civilian weapons into Russia, Russian snipers continue to rely on Western sniper rifles, weapons optics, and ammunition. On social media, the Samara-based sniper club “Rancho,” which uses weapons from the Czech armory (CZ), among others, proudly claims that none of its snipers have been killed in Ukraine. Czech Investigace.cz, in collaboration with Russian exile media outlet The Insider, the Italian investigative center IRPI Media, and Kazakh media site Vlast.kz, traced the routes through which Czech and other Western weapons are smuggled into Russia.

In May 2023, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky received a unique gift from Czech President Petr Pavel: a hand-engraved pistol of the iconic CZ 75 model, produced by the Czech armory in Uherský Brod. According to the company, the gift was intended to represent not only the Czech Republic’s industrial heritage but also its “support for Ukraine in its heroic fight against Russian aggression and its defense of Euro-Atlantic values.”

The Logo May Be Gone, But the Guns Remain

Despite a decade of sanctions against Russia, the CZ brand, including the gifted model and other products, remains readily available on the Russian market. Investigace.cz confirmed this at the most recent Orel Expo 2024, the largest Russian exhibition for sporting and hunting firearms, held in October.

This extravagant event traditionally takes place in Moscow at the Gostiny Dvor exhibition hall, located near Red Square. Among the notable attendees this year was Vladimir Solovyov, one of Russia’s most prominent media propagandists. In his Telegram posts, Solovyov highlighted a range of weapons from Russian manufacturers. However, conspicuously absent from his coverage were the dozens of Western brands also showcased at the fair.

Pro-Kremlin propagandist Vladimir Solovyov attended this year’s Orëlexpo fair | Source: Solovyov’s Telegram channel

Although the CZ logo was absent from the advertising materials and banners at this year’s Orel Expo, the weapons themselves remained. The booth of the Russian company Alliance, which in 2023 featured hunting rifles and sporting pistols under the CZ brand, was missing this time. However, its absence was filled by the booth of Moscow-based armaments company Varjag.

“Despite the sanctions, Varjag’s offerings are here, where you can find anything,” remarked a blogger who attended this year’s expo. Among the models that stood out most was the CZ Scorpion EVO 3 S1 carbine, a discontinued model. The booth also showcased a broad selection of foreign pistols, including Austrian Glocks and the Czech Armory’s products, colloquially referred to as “Chezets” in Russia.

The most eye-catching items on display were the colorful “Chezet” series pistols in bright orange and blue. These models are priced at around 150,000 crowns for Russian buyers, triple the cost in the Czech Republic, where the same pistol sells for approximately 60,000 crowns.

Import certificates reveal that Varjag brought ten orange CZ SHADOW 2 ORANGE pistols in 9mm Luger caliber into Russia at the end of 2022. Throughout 2023, the company continued importing Western firearms, including dozens of Shadow hunting rifles and pistols by U.S. brands.

Varjag was started in 2020 by Vladimir Grebenyuk, a Moscow shooting club founder and competitive shooting champion. Grebenyuk’s other company is now involved in firearms development, which he claims contributes to ending “special military operations.” As a sharpshooter, he has trained snipers, some of whom are reportedly involved in the war in Ukraine. According to our findings, his company has previously supplied Glock pistols to the Russian Federal Prison Service.

Varjag store stand featuring Western weapons, including Česká zbrojovka pistols, from a video recorded at the Orëlexpo 2024 exhibition | Source: Russkiy Oruzheynik YouTube channel

“We are not familiar with the Varjag company and do not cooperate with it or any other Russian entity,” said Radek Hauerland, a spokesperson for Czech Armaments. He added that verifying how their products ended up at Orel Expo 2024 would require serial numbers, which are typically absent from export documents.

Central Asian Connections

While the St. Petersburg-based company Alliance is no longer listed among the exhibitors at Moscow’s arms fair, it remains an active player in Russia’s sporting arms market.

In early April 2024, the Kazakh company Anna, which has been producing cartridges for nearly 30 years, imported 838 kilograms of ammunition from the Czech brand Sellier & Bellot (which, like the brand CZ, belongs to the Colt Group). This shipment included rounds for the .30-06 Springfield and .308 Winchester calibers. Each carton of this ammunition contains 5,000 rounds and weighs 18 kilograms. The cargo was transported directly from the Czech Republic to Almaty, the former capital of Kazakhstan.

An example of an ammunition import permit to Russia obtained by the company Anna | Source: vlast.kz

By August 2024, Anna received authorization from Kazakh authorities to export bullets and gunpowder to Russia. Although the permit documents—obtained through collaboration with Kazakh media outlet Vlast.kz—did not disclose the names of the ordering companies, they did include delivery addresses. One of these locations was linked to the headquarters of the St. Petersburg-based Alliance, where Mercedes Benz trucks carrying ammunition were directed.

Alliance’s documents reveal detailed logistics, including the planned routes for the trucks. The permit, valid until August 2025, covers ten specific routes and includes information about refueling stops along the way.

“Sellier & Bellot does not collaborate with Anna and currently works with other partners in Kazakhstan. To our knowledge, Anna produces its own ammunition, so it is likely exporting its own products to Russia,” said Adam Pašek, a spokesperson for Sellier & Bellot.

As of the article’s publication date, the Russian e-shop Alliance did not list Anna’s ammunition—but did feature an extensive selection of Czech-made ammunition from Sellier & Bellot. Neither Alliance nor the Kazakh company Anna responded to editors’ inquiries regarding these findings.

Russian hunter Evgeniy Shelyapin with a trophy and a CZ 550 series rifle | Source: Telegram

Another of  the Russian firms receiving ammunition shipments from Anna according to the listed addresses was Patronnaya Manufaktura. This company is located in Tula, 165 kilometers south of Moscow, and operates as part of the Tula Ammunition Plant—one of Russia’s largest producers of ammunition for both civilian and military use.

An Unbreakable Alliance

The partnership between the Russian company Alliance and the Czech armory began in the early 2000s, shortly after Alliance was founded. In 2006, Alliance director Grigory Kolknev attended the 70th-anniversary celebration of the Czech Armaments Factory in Uherský Brod.

Even after the EU imposed sanctions on firearms imports to Russia in 2014, the collaboration continued. In 2016, Alliance, alongside Czech Armoury, Sellier & Bellot, and Meopta, organized a multi-day event to showcase Czech arms production to Russian companies. The presentation took place in St. Petersburg, hosted in the opulent surroundings of the Hotel Inn. Sellier & Bellot’s Václav Procházka represented Czech ammunition at the event alongside Alliance’s management. Procházka’s wife has owned the Czech company Lynxnight since 2014.

In 2016, two years after the EU imposed sanctions on the import of firearms to Russia, Alliance, together with Česká zbrojovka, representatives of Sellier & Bellot, and Meopta, organized a multi-day event aimed at showcasing Czech firearms production to Russian companies. Participants included the then Czech Consul in St. Petersburg, Karel Kühnl (center), Vice-Consul Michal Gelbič (left), and Alliance Director Grigoriy Kolknev (right) | Source: Kalashnikov.ru

The event was organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, on behalf of the then-Czech Consul in St. Petersburg, former Minister of Defense Karel Kühnl, and Vice Consul Michal Gelbič.

Gelbič, who now works in the Czech Development Agency’s Moldova department, described the event as being targeted at Alliance’s regional dealers and the sports and hunting media. “It was purely a civil event. If it had been perceived otherwise, it would not have been allowed to take place,” he explained.

Gelbič emphasized that the goal was to demonstrate that Czech companies were still operating in the market despite the existing export restrictions. David Hluštík, a spokesperson for the Czech Ministry of Industry and Trade (MIT), clarified that while sanctions against Russia were imposed in 2014, these measures included several exceptions, particularly for contracts made before the sanctions were enacted. “All licenses and permits related to exports in the annual reports were granted by the Czech Republic in accordance with EU sanctions regulations, based on the exceptions they provided,” Hluštík added.

Export statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MIT) show that, for instance, in 2018, the Czech Republic exported weapons and non-military ammunition to Russia worth €461,000. By 2021, this figure had risen to €1.14 million. However, since 2021, the MIT’s statistics on exports of civilian weapons to Russia have been absent. According to a spokesperson for the Ministry, there has been a gradual decline in the export of civilian weapons and ammunition to Russia, eventually reaching a complete halt.

The Usual Suspects

According to Gelbič, who served as vice consul in St. Petersburg from 2015 to 2018 overseeing trade and economic cooperation with Russia, the exemption for civilian arms exports remained valid until 2019. Indeed, findings from Polish investigative journalists in 2015 show that the flow of Czech civilian arms to Russia continued even after 2014. However, Jan Jindřich, the then-director of the Office for Arms Export Control, believed that the weapons being exported were not destined for military use. “We have assurances from our Russian buyers that the weapons will only be used by private individuals, and not by military or paramilitary units,” Jindřich was quoted as saying by Rzeczpospolita.

But Poland is not the only country through which Czech weapons and their components have made their way to Russia. In 2020, Alliance attempted to import CZ TSR sniper rifles through Moldova, as reported by the EU Observer. At the time, the Czech arms company denied the accusations of sanctions evasion, claiming that it had neither exported any weapons to Russia nor allowed its business partners to do so.

This spring, investigace.cz revealed that some of the Czech Armory firearms offered by Alliance are reaching Russia through Turkey, where Czech company Česká zbrojovka operates a joint production facility with Turkish arms manufacturer Huglu. On Alliance’s e-shop, hunting rifles from Česká zbrojovka, Sellier & Bellot ammunition, and Czech weapons optics from Meopta are still available for purchase.

According to our new findings, in early January of this year, Alliance imported Meopta rifle scopes worth €119,000. The weapons optical products were imported by Turkish company AV Doga, which also sells Meopta products. As of the article’s deadline, Meopta had not responded to inquiries regarding these shipments.

Russian-German partnership

On September 23, 2013, Izhevsk, a city in the west of the Ural Mountain, became the focal point of Russia’s defense sector as top officials gathered to mark Armorer’s Day. Among the attendees were President Vladimir Putin, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, and Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu. The event also welcomed prominent international partners, including Frauke Löhmann, president and shareholder of the German firm Hans Wrage & Co.  

During her address, Löhmann reflected on two decades of collaboration with the Izhevsk Mechanical Plant and Izhmash, stating, “Our company purchases Russian weapons and distributes them to nearly all countries worldwide. We proudly represent the products of Izhmash and the Izhevsk Mechanical Plant at numerous international exhibitions.”

Löhmann’’s ties to Russia run deep. Since 2011, she has owned a 15.96% stake in Rusimpex, a company that specializes in importing high-end firearms and ammunition into Russia. Among its offerings are Japanese Miroku carbines, German Anschütz carbines, Krieghoff hunting rifles, and Ruag Ammotec and RWS cartridges. Export records reveal that the final shipment of 195,000 RWS cartridges was processed on January 25, 2022—just one month before the outbreak of the full-scale war in Ukraine.  

While the war has dramatically curbed business, Rusimpex continues to operate, albeit on a diminished scale. Its turnover fell sharply, with revenues of 74 million rubles in 2022 and just 33 million rubles in 2023.  

Löhmann’s Russian ventures are closely intertwined with Mikhail Khubutia, a prominent arms dealer known for his connections with Beretta. These business ties extend through Rusimpex LLC, where Rafik Yetumyan, Khubutia’s associate in other firearm distribution ventures, holds a commanding 78.72% stake.  

Löhmann’s links to Khubutia deepen through Russian Eagle, a joint venture between Khubutia and Beretta Holding. Until April 24, 2020, Löhmann owned a 9% stake in the company. Complicating matters further, Eduard Ioffe, a senior executive at the Kalashnikov Concern, held a 5% stake in Russian Eagle until April 12, 2018. Ioffe’s inclusion on the U.S. State Department’s Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list in 2015 meant that both Löhmann and Beretta Holding were in violation of U.S. sanctions.  

 “It’s not easy, but it can be done”  

Despite restrictions, customs data shows that Hans Wrage has maintained active dealings with Russian clients, albeit avoiding direct shipments of weapons and ammunition. In July 2023, the St. Petersburg-based company Technord received 14.175 tons of air rifle pellets from the German distributor Hans Wrage, valued at over $100,000. These pellets were manufactured by the Czech company JSB Match Diabolo.

Similarly, in December 2022, Hans Wrage supplied Rusimpex with gun cases and hunting apparel worth $69,000. In October 2022, Kolchuga, a company owned by Rafik Yetumyan, a business partner of Khubutia, imported $11,000 worth of hunting clothing and footwear through Hans Wrage.

Ruslan Musin won the Russian sniper competition ‘Patriot Games’ in 2024 using a CZ 455 Mini Sniper rifle | Source: Let’s Talk About Ammunition Telegram channel

How is this possible? Kazakhstan once again came to the rescue: While direct shipments of weapons to Russia ceased, exports to Kazakhstan showed significant growth following the start of the war. Between 2022 and 2023, Hans Wrage supplied at least 309 Italian Benelli shotguns to its long-standing partner Korgan Center and the distributor Olympic Shymkent.  

The amount of taxes paid by these companies increased by 112% and 172%, respectively, since the beginning of the war. As previously reported by The Insider, at least some of the weapons imported by this Kazakh company ended up on the shelves of the Russian store Orel, owned by Mikhail Khubutia. According to customs data, an Italian Beretta DT11 Anniversario shotgun and a German Sauer 404 Stutzen carbine were delivered to Kazakhstan in July 2023, and by February 2024, these same models appeared on a Moscow store shelf.  

Between 2022 and 2024, Hans Wrage sold at least 176 Blaser carbines to Kazakhstan’s Korgan Center. A correspondent from public interest journalism outlet Correctiv, investigating the smuggling of German weapons into Russia, visited this showroom in 2023 disguised as a customer. Threerifle stands marked with the Blaser brand were half-empty. When asked about the possibility of buying a rifle and arranging transportation to Russia, the salesperson replied, “It’s not easy, but it can be done.” 

The story was published with the support of Journalismfund Europe.

VSquare

Central Europe’s leading English language investigative platform.