Russia's growing appetite for Western arms defies sanctions
Although Kremlin propaganda claims that Russia produces the best weapons in the world, Russian soldiers hold a different opinion. As a result, the import of Western weapons, brought into Russia through neighbouring countries, is increasing. Consequently, despite sanctions, Russians are acquiring more and more Western arms.
This activity primarily involves precision weapons and the ammunition intended for them. According to an investigation by the Russian-language service The Insider, Western weapons reach Russia via Central Asian and Caucasian countries.
Despite sanctions introduced in 2014 following Russia's first attack on Ukraine, which resulted in the secession of Donbas and Luhansk, the scale of Western weapon imports has been steadily increasing, with tens of thousands of precision rifles reaching Russia.
In 2020, Western manufacturers sold a total of 19,556 weapons to Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. In 2023, this number rose to 53,211 units.
The Insider points out that Russians themselves do not hold a high opinion of their own weapons. This was confirmed by a competition organized in September 2024 in Russian-occupied Crimea. During a shooting at a target 1,600 metres away, among 36 competitors, only seven used Russian weapons, and merely four used Russian ammunition.
Models of precision rifles that were popular included the American Desert Tech SRS, the British Accuracy International AXSR, and the Austrian Steyr Mannlicher SSG.
The reason for this, The Insider suggests, is that the most common precision weapon in Russia remains the Dragunov sniper rifle, also known as the SVD. This weapon was developed in the early 1960s with the assumption that its user would not be a sniper but a designated marksman operating as part of a team.
The sight settings allow for firing up to 1,200 metres. The SVD rifle is 122 centimetres long, and together with the scope and 7.62×54 mm R ammunition in a 10-round magazine, it weighs over 5 kilograms.
