The headquarters of “Canada’s most controversial arms supplier” is a sprawling warehouse complex in the United Arab Emirates that produces armoured vehicles for the world’s war zones.
Gherman Goutorov started Streit Group in the 1990s in a strip mall north of Toronto, before moving his manufacturing hub far from the reach of Canadian arms control laws.
Since then, the Canadian citizen has acquired a $12 million superyacht, a $6 million French chateau-style mansion and a pro-Russia celebrity brand ambassador, Steven Seagal.
But a Global News investigation has found that Goutorov’s company has a significant record of business dealings with Russia, and is facing growing international scrutiny as a result.
For the past year, Western governments have been turning up the heat on Goutorov, accusing the 60-year-old of equipping Russian forces amidst the Ukraine war.
The 27 nations of the European Union, as well as Switzerland, placed Streit Group on their sanctions lists last October, and then added Goutorov himself in May.
“Goutorov is supporting Russia’s military and industrial complex by being involved in the supply of military technology and equipment,” the EU wrote.
On Aug. 6, the Canadian government sanctioned Streit Group as well, claiming the company’s vehicles were used by Russia’s Rosgvardia, which is involved in the Ukraine war.
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said that “by supplying Russian entities with defence products, Streit Group continues to feed Russia’s war machine.”
She did not provide further details, but records uncovered by Global News show the company opened an armoured vehicle factory east of Moscow in 2009.
Customs records also show that Streit Group continued trading with Russia even after President Vladimir Putin launched his 2014 and 2022 invasions of Ukraine.
The company, meanwhile, has started manufacturing a line of drones that appear identical to models sold by a Russian government-backed Moscow business.
Streit Group, which emerged from Ontario but shifted its head office to the Emirates in 2012, has not responded to questions from Global News.
One of the world’s largest armoured vehicle makers, it has previously dismissed concerns about its record, saying it follows UAE law.
“Streit Group has denied responsibility for how its vehicles are modified or used after sale,” according to a Canadian government briefing note.
Goutorov has appealed the European sanctions, arguing they wrongly concluded the company supported Russia. There is no record of it appealing Canada’s sanctions.
Controversy is nothing new to Streit Group, which says it has 25 worldwide offices, 2,000 employees and factories in the Middle East and North America.
The U.S. fined the company in 2015 over illegal shipments to Iraq, and United Nations monitors have repeatedly accused it of illicit exports to Libyan militias.
Sudanese paramilitaries, Guinea’s military junta and riot police in Russian-puppet state Belarus have all been spotted in what appear to be Streit armoured vehicles.
For that, Streit Group has been called a “prolific Canadian sanctions violator” that “provides a road map for other arms suppliers who may wish to dodge Canadian export controls.”
The UAE embassy in Ottawa did not respond to questions about the company, but several experts said the Arab country recognized few sanctions.
By moving to the Emirates, Streit Group effectively put itself out of reach of Western counter-proliferation systems, allowing it to serve what have been called “problematic customers.”
As a result, a major defence company that emerged from Canada, and is headed by a Canadian, seems to be operating at odds with Canada’s foreign policy priorities.
As Ottawa ramps up military spending amid worsening U.S. relations, a Royal Military College professor said Canada could not afford to ignore the lessons.
Streit Group “is now actively working against the interests of Canada and its closest allies and partners,” said Christian Leuprecht, a national security and defence expert.
“And so we need to learn about how that was possible,” he said. “We need to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
The Soviet Union was collapsing when Goutorov arrived in Canada in the early 1990s and moved into a home in Richmond Hill, Ont.
He had spent five years in Russia’s police and said he had seen “so many criminal situations” that made him want to “protect the people.”
“And I start to look for armoured cars, and I end up making them myself,” he told CNN in a 2013 interview at his factory in the UAE.
With only “some basic tools, a rented workshop, overextended credit and an order for three armoured vans,” he formed Streit Manufacturing.
Incorporated in Ontario in 1996 by Goutorov and Anton Stefov, Streit Manufacturing opened an armoured vehicle plant in Innisfil, Ont.
Customers included the Toronto Transit Commission, U.S. Army and gold and jewellery companies, according to a Canadian court ruling.
Most employees were “of Russian extraction,” and the workplace language was “92 per cent to 95 per cent Russian,” a worker arrested for drunk driving testified.
After what an Ontario judge called an “acrimonious falling out,” the partners split their business, with Goutorov taking full control of Streit.
Looking to expand, Goutorov opened a factory in the UAE’s Ras Al Khaimah free trade zone in 2012, bringing him closer to customers in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
Emirati authorities gave him a business licence in just one week, he said, opening “new areas where we (are) able to sell our product”
But one of those areas was Libya, where Streit Group was soon accused of running afoul of a UN arms embargo by shipping armoured vehicles to the country’s militias.
Streit countered that the UAE approved the shipments and denied violating international law. At least some of the vehicles were unarmed when shipped.
But the UN panel called the 2012 exports an “illicit transfer” and a “violation of the arms embargo” imposed on Libya by the Security Council.
In February 2015, Greek customs authorities seized eight more Streit Group armoured vehicles that were aboard a Liberian-registered ship bound for Libya.
The UN’s Libya monitoring group reported that the forces of warlord Khalifa Haftar later received deliveries of Streit vehicles, in violation of the embargo.
The company’s troubles continued in 2015, when the U.S. fined it $3.5 million for the “unlawful re-export of U.S. origin vehicles.” Goutorov was personally fined $250,000.
The vehicles had been sent to the UAE, and then transhipped to Iraq, Nigeria, Singapore and the Philippines without the required permission, U.S. authorities said.
UN monitors again cited Streit in 2016, this time when 173 Cougar and Typhoon armoured personnel carriers were imported into South Sudan amid a civil war.
Meanwhile, Libyan forces “gifted” Streit armoured vehicles to the Sudan Liberation Army, a rebel group active in Darfur, UN monitors reported.
A ship delivered 50 more Streit military armoured vehicles to the port of Tripoli in 2024, a UN report said, calling it another violation of the embargo.
The vehicles reportedly went to Islamist militias, the UN panel said. Streit Condor and Gladiator armoured vehicles were later spotted parading in Libya, according to the UN.
As vehicles closely resembling those exported by Streit Group showed up in Sudan, South Sudan and elsewhere, the government noted allegations it was “breaching arms embargoes.”
But Goutorov seemed to welcome the attention, telling the African Defence Monitor in an interview that, “there’s rumours all over the place, and I like rumours.”
“You know why? Because if people doesn’t talk about Streit, it means we are not doing good job. We are not interesting, so if people are talking about, good or bad, it’s good.”
The year before Putin began his disastrous 2022 attempt to seize Ukraine, Goutorov showcased his armoured vehicle fleet at a defence expo in Abu Dhabi.
The 2021 International Defence Exhibition and Conference was one of the “most important events in the calendar for us,” Goutorov said at the time.
Apparently so important that Streit Group appointed a Hollywood actor as its brand ambassador: Steven Seagal, known for his outspoken support of Putin.
The company did not respond to questions about why it chose Seagal as its representative, but the company has long done business in Russia.
According to the EU sanctions listing, Streit “has manufacturing operations in Russia” and has “partnered with Russian military-industrial entities.”
The company’s social media platforms and archived versions of its website show it opened a factory in Russia’s Tatarstan republic in 2009.
The Streit Kama factory was in Naberezhnye Chelny, home to Kamaz, a heavy truck manufacturer sanctioned for supplying the Russian military.
Russian customs records compiled by trade data company Import Genius show Streit Group had extensive dealings with Kamaz following Russia’s 2014 invasion of Ukraine.
Between 2015 and 2022, Streit imported 41 shipments from Kamaz. The records identify most of the items as “parts for Kamaz vehicles.”
In a video on its YouTube page, Streit Group demonstrates an armoured truck with the Kamaz logo on its grille, suggesting cooperation between the companies.
Streit Group also lists Wamah as one of its partners, which in Cyrillic means Shaman, a vehicle produced by the Russian company Avtoros.
The VPK-Ural armoured vehicle, meanwhile, was reportedly a collaboration between Streit and LLC Military Industrial Company, a sanctioned Russian firm.
Ukrainian forces have captured or destroyed 74 VPK-Urals taking part in Putin’s invasion, according to a website that tracks Russian losses.
A vehicle closely matching the VPK-Ural appears in a Streit Group promotional video. A Ukrainian military historian said they appeared to be the same.
“There is, admittedly, a slight difference in the shape of the front end, but this is apparently due to the use of different chassis,” Andrij Kharuk said in an interview.
The Russian customs records bolster allegations of Streit Group’s interest in the VPK-Ural, showing 38 imports from its manufacturer between 2015 and 2022.
In the two weeks before Putin launched his 2022 attack on Ukraine, Streit imported six VPK-Ural vehicle kits from the now-sanctioned Russian company Arzamas, according to the records.
Streit continued to import VPK-Ural kits well after the 2022 Russian invasion, and after Arzamas was sanctioned by the U.K., Europe and the U.S., the records show.
In 2023, Streit exported two Cougar armoured vehicles to Russian neighbour Kazakhstan, whose authoritarian leader is a Putin ally, the Import Genius research also shows.
But the tipping point for Western countries came in 2024 when Russia’s National Guard, which is active in the Ukraine war, posted photos on its social media showing what appeared to be Streit vehicles.
Kharuk said he had matched the National Guard’s new fleet of armoured personnel carriers to Streit products through photo and video comparisons.
He said the National Guard unit equipped with Streit vehicles was primarily responsible for patrolling parts of Ukraine occupied by Russian forces.
Its duties include guarding the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, he said, which Russian forces have been using as a military base.
The photos and customs records are “substantial evidence of the connection between Streit Group and the Russian Federation,” Kharuk said.
With Putin continuing his war against Ukrainian civilians, infrastructure and culture, he said that supplying Russia with military equipment was immoral.
“It’s really very concerning for us Ukrainians,” said Kharuk, a professor of history at Ukraine’s national army academy who lost his son in the war.
“I believe it also raises some legal issues inside Canada because of the violation of the sanctions, to see that a Canadian company is cooperating with an aggressor country.”
Ads on online job sites show that Streit Group has been hiring drone assemblers to work on the new products it is manufacturing at its plant in the Emirates.
Diversifying beyond armoured vehicles is a way for the company to adapt to the “shifting global warfare dynamics,” according to its website.
But a review of online platforms suggests that a sanctioned Moscow company is marketing the same drones that Streit Group manufactures in the UAE.
Streit’s drone subsidiary is called Advanced Integrated Technology, or AIT, which says it builds the Storkdrone, Wired Drone and Sea Drone.
Drones with the same names and appearance are advertised on the website of the Russian company Drone Solutions LLC, which is on Canada’s sanctions list.
An expert who compared photos of the Streit Group and Moscow drones said he would have to look inside them to be sure, but they appeared to be the same.
“You don’t have to be a drone expert to see the similarities,” said Senan Houlihan, a Canadian Forces veteran now in the drone industry.
“I absolutely agree that they appear to be identical.”
He also said the terms that Streit Group uses to describe the applications of its drones, such as “hard-kill neutralization” and “targeting,” are military jargon for violence.
Drone Solutions has reportedly received support from the Russian government. Photos posted on a Kremlin website show Putin inspecting a Drone Solutions product.
Neither Streit Group nor Drone Solutions responded to questions about why they appeared to be selling the same drones, and whether the companies were related.
But the Moscow company is headed by Vyacheslav Konstantinovich Barbasov, who appeared in a photo with Goutorov at a 2025 trade show.
On LinkedIn, Barbasov says he is the founder of Skystream, a UAE company that claims on its website that it is “part of the prestigious Streit Group.”
The Skystream website lists its 10 “strategic partners,” five of which are Russian companies sanctioned by Canada. Three others are Russian government ministries.
Until recently, Skystream’s website used the same contact email as Streit’s drone company, and its banner photo showed Streit Group’s factory in the UAE.
In a Skystream promotional video showing a test flight of one of its drones, the Streit Group logo is visible on fencing in the background.
None of the companies responded to questions about whether they were connected. Barbasov was reportedly arrested in Moscow on Aug. 8 on fraud charges.
Given the longstanding complaints about Streit Group, its expansion into drone production is concerning, said a researcher with peace group Project Ploughshares.
Kelsey Gallagher, who testified about Streit Group to Canada’s Foreign Affairs Committee in 2023, said drones were arguably more dangerous than armoured vehicles.
There is no evidence that Streit Group drones have yet turned up in Ukraine or that the Russian military has adopted them for combat.
But as Russia’s drones target civilians in Ukraine, he said it was troubling that a company with “little concern for who their weapons are filtered to” was producing drones.
“It’s very problematic,” he said.
On July 27, 2022, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled for four decades, opened a Streit Group factory north of Kampala.
The television broadcast of the event showed Goutorov in attendance alongside uniformed military brass as his armoured vehicles rumbled past the festivities.
The plant, a joint venture with Uganda’s government-owned National Enterprise Corporation, has given Streit a beachhead in the African market.
The Museveni dictatorship has a history of military cooperation with Moscow, and like Russia, has not signed the UN Arms Trade Treaty.
Streit did not respond to questions about Uganda. But experts said the company’s conduct raised questions about sanctions and how they are enforced.
“This really is a case study of gaps in enforcement and the limits of compliance extraterritorially,” said Alex Zerden, a former U.S. Treasury official.
There is no legal obligation for the UAE, or companies based in the country, to comply with Canadian or European sanctions laws, Zerden said.
“This brings up a novel policy problem about the reach and limit of sanctions and the challenges of a country like Canada enforcing sanctions,” he said.
Canada and its European allies can impose sanctions on companies, but they are virtually unenforceable against a business based in the UAE, which adopts few sanctions.
An adjunct professor of illicit finance at Georgetown University, Zerden said if sanctions are not a credible threat, they are just a corporate reputational risk.
“This isn’t unique to Canada,” he said, “it’s a perennial challenge about actually enforcing sanctions rather than just imposing and designating new ones.”
Global Affairs Canada, which oversees sanctions regulations, has a history with Streit Group, having awarded it a $200,000 contract for vehicles in 2013.
It has now sanctioned the company, but not Goutorov. Canadian citizens cannot be sanctioned, but they are not allowed to deal with sanctioned companies.
A foreign affairs spokesperson said sanctions violations are criminal offences that are “investigated and enforced by federal enforcement agencies.”
Asked whether it had asked the RCMP to investigate Goutorov, Global Affairs referred a reporter to the RCMP, which declined to comment.
Goutorov amalgamated his original company Streit Manufacturing into G.G.A.S. Properties Inc. in 2024. He still controls at least two other Ontario companies.
The Ontario government did not respond to questions about the businesses and why they remained active. Goutorov sold his 8,600-square-foot estate in Aurora, Ont. in March.
Experts said banks would likely be aware of the Canadian and EU sanctions, making it harder for the company to do business.
But Leuprecht, the Royal Military College professor, said Canada had other tools at its disposal, such as revoking Goutorov’s passport.
Canadian authorities could also investigate how he obtained citizenship, and where he obtained the financing for his company.
“So there’s lots of good reason here to ask lots of hard questions. And the minimum that we could do is effectively complicate that individual’s travel,” he said.
Leuprecht said the government had to make sure that its defence industries were “advancing Canada’s interests, rather than our adversaries.”
Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca
