As TB said, the embargo on certain Russian products has halted imports of the Baikal Maks. I have one in 9mm Mak. GREAT little pistol. Very accurate considering it's size.
That's incorrect information. And TB's info on sanctions reasoning is also incorrect. Just couple of bullet points for those who's too lazy to check original documents:
- sanctions do not prohibit import of firearms from Russia, but rather prohibit dealing with certain companies and people. Baikal is a part of Izhevsk factory which is under sanctions (see Schedule 1) and one can't deal with them. Surplus goods that are now properties of other companies and countries is not under prohibition, one can buy surplus Izhevsk production from Russia or Ukraine, provided you're not dealing directly or indirectly to entities under sanctions. Of course I expect no modern production of Izhevsk or subsidiaries like Baikal could get an import permit.
- there's a list of sanctions-related prohibited items, true (Schedule 4), but it doesn't include firearms.
- reason for sanction is not some "proxy oil war" and not our US ally but Canada's condemnation of military aggression against Ukraine that is still ongoing since 2014.
- one can import firearms and ammo from Russia, provided one does not deal with people and companies under sanctions. That's how we were getting Molot snipers (this company btw scammed one Canadian importer) and SKSs and that's how we get Barnaul ammo, modern production.
- another thing to consider is that according to Russian laws no military firearms can be sold abroad, and all these Molots and similar companies are just shells with owners who were able to grease someone's palm and were allowed to slap "hunting / sporting firearm" labels on clearly military SKS and sell it abroad, but with these way of doing business there's no guarantee it would work tomorrow, bribes are expensive and ppl in power change... it's pure feudalism out there in Russia, very unpredictable.
- prices are going up everywhere on surplus as supply is drying out. Year ago I looked at wholesale prices on Soviet surplus from Ukraine and believe me - after all said and done and guns are in Canada you won't be buying it from retailers, but rather would look for old imports second hands ownership. Importers are in the business to make money, not in the business to bring us some hard to find toys, they assess market saturation and demand and won't be bringing expensive hard to sell stuff, only something they can make profit on in reasonable time. As local prices are going up importers will be reassessing this, I'm sure. This is generalization of course, there's a company in Germany that holds unbelievable stashes of surplus ammo and guns and some of the items they keep for decades before they start to sell to wholesalers. It's their business model, store for long period of time and get price increase.
So these are the reasons why we're not seeing new and old stuff in the plenty as it used to be. The era of surplus is ending and more modern toys are quickly classified as prohibs... While rest of the world enjoy converted auto or even full-auto, we are stuck with our stupid firearms laws and our politicians and I see no perspective of any possible changes for good. Tons of WW2 and cold war era SMG, MGs and assault rifles out there and we can't have them.
References:
1. Government of Canada Sanctions on Russia -
https://www.international.gc.ca/world-monde/international_relations-relations_internationales/sanctions/russia-russie.aspx?lang=eng
2. Government of Canada Special Economic Measures (Russia) -
https://laws.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/SOR-2014-58/FullText.html
