NewsFinland's weapons end up in Russia despite sanctions, report reveals

Finland's weapons end up in Russia despite sanctions, report reveals

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8:32 AM EST, February 29, 2024

In 2022-2023, Finnish-made weapons and ammunition were delivered to Russia despite existing sanctions. This batch included approximately 690 rifles manufactured at the Sako factory in Riihimäki, near Helsinki, and over 200,000 boxes of cartridges, mostly from the Nammo plants in Lapua, located in the western part of Finland. Each box holds several dozen bullets.

The country's largest newspaper has reported that Finnish armaments are advertised on Russian social media platforms. Additionally, Finnish rifles and ammunition have been found with Russian units active on the Ukrainian front, a fact documented by Russian bloggers.

Exported without the manufacturers' consent?

Finnish defense manufacturers claim that the rifles and ammunition were exported without their permission and knowledge. Finnish Customs has stated that the weapons were registered in Russia as "hunting" items.

The EU imposed an embargo on arms supplies to the east in 2014, following Russia's annexation of Crimea. The intended export route for Finnish weapons was through Italy.

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The Sako rifle and ammunition factory, with a history spanning about 100 years, stands as one of the largest in Europe and is now a subsidiary of the Italian-holding Beretta. Simultaneously, the century-old Lapua bullet factory is part of the Nordic defense conglomerate Nammo.