Russia imports thousands of sights made in USA, Japan and Austria during large-scale war

The publication Vazhnyye Istorii reports.

It is noted that in 2022-2023, sights worth 16 billion rubles were imported to Russia. The purpose is "installation on hunting weapons" and "not for military use." However, some of it ends up at the front in Ukraine. 

"On YouTube, you can find dozens of videos in which Russian soldiers demonstrate scopes from Western manufacturers - Leupold (USA), Nightforce - once, twice, three times, four times (USA-Japan), Holosun (USA-China), Swarovski Optik (Austria)," the statement says.

In addition, the St. Petersburg-based online store Pointer operates under the slogan "We have everything for successful hunting." Since the beginning of the war, the company has imported nearly 50,000 scopes made by the American-Chinese manufacturer Holosun for more than 3 billion rubles. In total, the company has imported 17 billion rubles worth of goods for hunting and sports, many of which are also used at the front.

In 2022-2023, the so-called "hunting" goods were purchased from Pointer by, among others, arms companies. The rifle manufacturer Orsis and Promtechnologiya bought 55 million rubles worth of goods. The Hunt store, owned by the Bespoke Gun rifle manufacturer, was bought for 33 million.

Since the Russian war against Ukraine began, the Moscow-based Navigator company has been transporting sights worth about 400 million rubles, including more than 2,000 from the Holosun (USA-China) manufacturer. The total amount of goods was 4.5 billion rubles.

The publication notes that the importation of scopes and other hunting goods into Russia is carried out through parallel imports - manufacturers most likely do not know where their goods end up. In particular, Pointer uses dealers in China, while Navigator uses dealers in Turkey and Kazakhstan.

• Military expert and Defence Express editor-in-chief Oleh Katkov noted that Russia's plans for 2024 include 10,000 new S-8KL unguided missiles, of which 5,000 are to be transferred to Crimea.