Sochi resident Ivan Goldobin has been sentenced to nine years in a penal colony after being convicted of illegal arms trafficking, regional court officials announced.
The Joint Press Service of the regional courts stated on Telegram that Goldobin was found guilty of running an underground gun business in the Black Sea resort city.
According to the court ruling, Goldobin decided to enter the illegal arms trade in December 2023. He purchased a blank-firing Makarov pistol over the internet, along with specialized equipment and components required to manufacture 9 by 18 millimeter ammunition.
After modifying the weapon into a fully functional firearm and producing live rounds, Goldobin sought buyers for his merchandise. In 2025, he completed a transaction selling the converted handgun, eight matching cartridges, two ammunition magazines, and a suppressor for 150,000 rubles.
Investigators found that Goldobin had also prepared additional items for sale, including 13 rounds of 5.6 millimeter caliber ammunition and two packages of industrial gunpowder with a total weight of 462 grams. His illicit operation came to an end when officers from the regional management of the Federal Security Service uncovered the business and arrested him.
Underground arms trade
The Makarov pistol is a standard Soviet-designed semi-automatic handgun that uses 9 by 18 millimeter cartridges and has served as a primary sidearm for Soviet and Russian armed forces and law enforcement since the 1950s. Blank-firing variants are legally sold as starter or decorative pistols, but illegal gunsmiths frequently attempt to convert them back into lethal weapons by replacing modified barrels and firing mechanisms.
Sochi, where Goldobin operated, is a prominent resort city located in Krasnodar Krai along the coast of the Black Sea in southwestern Russia. Operations against illegal gunsmiths in the region are spearheaded by the Federal Security Service, Russia's domestic security agency responsible for counter-terrorism, border control, and investigating major federal crimes.
Under Russian criminal law, severe firearms trafficking offenses carry lengthy custodial terms served in penal colonies. These facilities form the backbone of Russia's correctional system, housing prisoners convicted of serious economic, violent, and national security crimes.
Prior illicit workshop operations
The crackdown in Sochi follows a similar case previously reported in Novosibirsk, where another underground gunsmith established a covert weapons workshop inside an industrial enterprise. Novosibirsk, located in southwestern Siberia, is Russia's third-most populous city and a major industrial and manufacturing center where security agencies have repeatedly targeted illicit manufacturing operations.
