Russian snipers still see their targets through Austrian lenses.

Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the Germany-based camera manufacturer Leica Camera AG with Austrian roots promised to stop exports to this country and to close its brand store in Moscow.

More than a year after making this commitment, the company not only continue doing business in the Russian Federation, but also started shipping laser rangefinder binoculars and night vision scopes, according to a new investigation by The Insider. 

A Swiss sister company, Leica Geosystems, supplies laser rangefinders and leveling instruments to Russia, via third countries.

These devices may be used by the military for artillery fire correction, vision systems for tanks and infantry support vehicles, and as lenses for sniper rifles, for example.

Wo ist Leica Camera Russia?

The manufacturer’s division in the aggressor country was called Leica Camera Russia OOO, a limited liability company founded by Leica Camera Austria GmbH (99%) and AHK Vermögensverwaltung GmbH (1%).

On 6 April 2023, the company changed its name into Vechernya Zvezda OOO (Evening Star), with the same founders. The Russian division is led by Klaus Hauer, a German national with personal business interests in Moscow.

The Leica Camera Group finished the 2021/2022 financial year (1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022) with record operating results. Compared to the previous year, turnover increased by more than 16% and, at a preliminary 450 million euros, achieved the best business result in the company's history of more than 100-years, its financial report says. 

Since February 2022, Leica Camera has rolled up the sales of expenses photo cameras in Russia but increased the exports of dual-use equipment such as laser rangefinder binoculars and night vision scopes. This was happening while the world was learning of the Russian atrocities in Bucha.

Curiously, Leica did not violate the sanction regime: the European Union banned the export of radars, compasses, binoculars and scopes to Russia exactly one year after the start of the war, on 25 February 2023.

The government in Vienna has repeatedly refused to supply weapons to Ukraine, citing its constitutional neutrality and fears of escalation, and yet it does not seem to mind companies like Leica exporting equipment that can be used for military purposes by the Russian army: high resolution binoculars or rifle scopes.

Leica Camera AG is 55% owned by Austrian investment firm ACM Projektentwicklung GmbH and 45% owned by the Blackstone Group, which licenses the Leica brand name from the Danaher Corporation-owned Leica Microsystems GmbH. 

The full investigation is here.