Russian snipers are using Canadian Cadex rifles as shipments continue despite sanctions

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Snipers in at least three units of the Russian armed forces are using Canadian Cadex sniper rifles, and a Russian importer continued to receive new shipments of the weapons despite international sanctions, an investigation by Global News with support from The Insider found. Indirect evidence suggests deliveries have been routed through the U.S. and Kazakhstan.

Canadian rifles in Russian hands

In February 2024, the press service of the Russian Federation of Combat Sniping (FBS) posted video footage showing the work of the unit’s “new instruments» on the shooting range. In the video, FBS president Yaroslav Yakubov zeroes a Canadian Cadex Tremor 416 Barrett rifle. The rifle, its caliber, and the shooter are all visible in the clip.

Cadex is regarded as one of the world’s leading makers of long-range precision sniper rifles. The .416 Barrett caliber was developed at the request of the U.S. Navy’s Surface Warfare Centers in 2006. The muzzle energy of a cartridge in that caliber is roughly 11,800 joules — about 3.3 times that of the Dragunov sniper round — and the bullet retains supersonic speed to distances of up to 1,700 meters.

Yaroslav Yakubov is an officer in the 155th Naval Infantry Brigade of the Pacific Fleet, a unit favored by President Vladimir Putin. Yakubov fights in Ukraine under the call sign “Yary.” In 2022–23, he commanded a heavy sniper group at the front. SinceAugust 2023 he has chaired the Federation of Combat Sniping and led the combat training department of the 155th brigade.

The video with “Yary” is not the only example of Canadian rifles being used by Russian forces. Photographs show two sniper-instructors “at a training ground in the area of the special military operation”: the shooter on the right, known as “Hussar,” poses with an American Barrett M107; on the left is a special forces senior lieutenant with the call sign “Nemets,” holding a Canadian Cadex. A sniper from the “Pavel Sudoplatov Battalion” — a private military company that was created by the Zaporizhzhia occupation governor Yevgeny Balitsky before being folded into Russia’s 58th Combined Arms Army — posted a video thanking the battalion for the rifles, which function “like clockwork.”

The Cadex Defence CDX-33 Patriot Lite in .338 Lapua Magnum is used by snipers in an unnamed Russian airborne unit. The same Cadex CDX-33 model can be seen in the hands of a Russian National Guard Spetsnaz (special forces) soldier.

Reaction from Canadian authorities

Responding to Global News, a spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada suggested Russian forces might have captured these weapons on the battlefield after they had been sent to Ukraine by Canada and other allies. That explanation, however, does not account for Cadex rifles appearing in Russia in factory cases with intact labels. Moreover, the Russian importer displayed rifles from the Montreal factory at Russia’s largest weapons fair, OrelExpo-2025, which was held in Moscow in early October.

On July 19, 2023, Canada imposed a full ban on exports, sales, supply, or transport of weapons to Russia, while direct shipments had largely ceased earlier, around 2015. The Global Affairs spokesperson said Canadian exporters are responsible not only for doing due diligence on the immediate buyer but also for ensuring that end users are not subject to sanctions. How strictly Canada enforces those controls is another question.

Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate has reported that Canadian microchips, antennas, and power converters are used in the production of Russian Geran (Shahed) and Orlan drones, KamAZ-53949 “Lynx” and KamAZ-63968 “Typhoon-K” armored vehicles, Silok-01 electronic warfare systems and Iranian Mohajer-6 drones. To date, Canada has brought only one known charge related to sanctions evasion: in May 2025 the Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrested Toronto resident Anton Trofimov, whose company supplied parts for drones to Russia.

After the Global News investigation was published, Canada’s foreign minister, Anita Anand, said she would carefully review how Canadian rifles ended up in the hands of Russian snipers. Cadex president Serge Dextraze, who received the serial numbers of the rifles delivered to Russia in response to a journalistic inquiry, declined to name specific buyers but said the company does not sell to Russia and that specific firms had been blacklisted.

The “Viking” from Moscow

The only importer of Canadian rifles into Russia is the Moscow gun shop LLC Varyag (ООО «Варяг»), which translates to “Varangian.” The company’s director is listed as Evgenia Salomatina and the beneficiary as Nidjat Aliyev. According to Russia’s Federal Accreditation Agency, the company documented imports of 82 Cadex Defence rifles from February 2022 through February 2024.

Varyag’s revenues rose sharply after the start of the full-scale war: from 60 million rubles in 2021 to 148 million in 2022. The figure climbed to 175 million the following year, then fell to 50 million in 2024. In addition to Canadian rifles, the company imported:

• Glock pistols (Austria), Zev Technologies (U.S.), Faxon Firearms (U.S.), Shadow Systems (U.S.), Česká Zbrojovka (Czech Republic);
• Zev Technologies carbines (U.S.), Angstadt (Germany), JP Enterprises (U.S.), Windham Weaponry (U.S.), FN America (U.S.), Black Rain Ordnance (U.S.), Seekins Precision (U.S.), Geissele Automatics (U.S.), Nemo Arms (U.S.), SIG Sauer (Germany), Česká Zbrojovka (Czech Republic);
• Sniper rifles from Barrett Firearms Manufacturing (U.S.), Daniel Defense (U.S.), Patriot Ordnance Factory (U.S.), Christensen Arms (U.S.), Mossberg & Sons (U.S.), Accuracy International (U.K.);
• Ammunition from Federal Cartridge (U.S.), Cascade Cartridges (U.S.), Hornady Manufacturing (U.S.), Nammo Lapua Oy (Finland), RUAG Ammotec AG (Switzerland), RUAG Ammotec (Germany), Norma Precision AB (Sweden).

In the first two years of the full-scale war, Varyag imported 501 firearms and 141,000 rounds of ammunition, including long-range sniper rifles and ammunition for them. Judging by photos from the Moscow showroom and the new rifles on Varyag’s booth at the 2025 arms fair, the company is restocking without difficulty.

“sometimes it seems that American rifles get to our market before they reach the civilian market in the United States.”

Colorado to Kazakhstan

Two indirect signs suggest that some Canadian rifles reached Russia via the United States and Kazakhstan. Before the war, the Moscow retailer LLC Varyag worked with a U.S. gun shop, ABF, in Colorado. On May 19, 2021, ABF shipped 40 tactical weapon lights made by Inforce to Varyag for a total of $5,467. In 2022–23, ABF Inc. delivered 53 rifles to Kazakhstan from makers including Accuracy International, Cadex Defence, FN Herstal, Patriot Ordnance Factory, and Proof Research. Rifles from all of those manufacturers — including the rare-for-Russia Proof Research — were also received by Varyag.

The Kazakh recipient of the shipments was a company called Kazokhotrybolsoyuz (KORS). As The Insider noted in an earlier investigation, KORS’s turnover rose dramatically after the war began. According to the company’s filings, taxes paid increased from 97.9 million tenge in 2021 to 143.6 million in 2022 and 193.2 million in 2023. Yet none of the brands listed above appear for sale on KORS’s online store.

ABF is owned by Alex Burlakov, who emigrated from Russia to the United States in 1992. Over the years he built a mid-size business selling guns and hunting equipment under the 1 Shot Gear brand, which is legally operated by ABF Inc. On the Russian forum Guns.ru, Burlakov was recommended as a middleman for shipping U.S. ammunition with an export license. ABF’s staff include Burlakov’s son, Grigory, as well as Oleg Meller (chief financial officer) and Zhanna (bookkeeper). The latter two moved from Canada to Denver in 2023.

Burlakov is a donor to several hunting associations, including the Dallas Safari Club, the Rocky Mountain Bighorn Society, and the Wild Sheep Foundation. He also supports the Navy SEAL Foundation. It is possible that those connections in Republican-leaning circles helped him arrange for Donald Trump Jr. to appear at his company’s booth at a 2019 event. The photo below shows Trump Jr. at the 2019 DSC Convention & Sporting Expo, hosted by the Dallas Safari Club.

Another networking link that could have introduced Burlakov to Trump Jr. involves their mutual ties to the Wild Sheep Foundation. Burlakov has donated charity lots worth thousands of dollars to the foundation, which has ties to Field Ethos, a media company founded by Trump Jr. and the first son’s friend, Jason Vincent, of the Dallas Safari Club.

American barrels in Russian rifles

Long-range precision shooting places exacting demands on a rifle barrel’s geometry, limiting the useful life of such barrels to a matter of a few hundred rounds. Russian weapons makers often address that issue by using imported — predominantly U.S. — components. In December 2024, Tactical Sniper Systems LLC (TSS) posted on its Telegram channel results of rebarreling a Cadex rifle “modified for the special military operation.” A critical element in that process is the barrel blank — the raw billet that becomes the finished barrel. According to another TSS post, the company “does not produce barrels from domestic blanks, but mainly uses blanks from firms such as Bartlein, Krieger, and, more rarely, Proof Research and Lothar Walther.” The same Bartlein blanks were used until recently by Moscow’s BespokeGun producer, Moscow Ordnance Company (“Moskovskaya Oruzheynaya Kompaniya”).

TSS’s sole founder is Vladimir Grebenyuk, chairman of the Ramensky Shooting Club and a former co-founder of Varyag LLC (until 2020). Revenue from localized production at TSS is far below the importer’s turnover: just 17.7 million rubles in 2024, as the company is only beginning full-scale production. Local channels report that a new weapons-and-ammunition production center will soon open in the Ramensky District. Tactical Sniper Systems has already received support from the Moscow Region Industrial Development Fund, and Grebenyuk personally presented the complex concept to Ramensky district head Eduard Malyshev. So far, neither Grebenyuk nor his former partners at Varyag appear to be having problems sourcing new imported components.