Russia, India Finalizing Deal On Kalashnikov Joint Venture - Russian Official

Russia and India are closing in on a deal to jointly produce Kalashnikov rifles at an Indian plant, Anatoly Punchuk, deputy chief of Russia's Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, said on Friday

BANGALORE (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd February, 2019) Russia and India are closing in on a deal to jointly produce Kalashnikov rifles at an Indian plant, Anatoly Punchuk, deputy chief of Russia's Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, said on Friday.

"We plan to set up a joint venture under an intergovernmental agreement that is in the final stage of negotiations. The [Indian] Ordnance Factories board will be our partner. The joint venture will be created on parity basis within Indian laws," he said.

Punchuk, who was speaking at Aero India 2019 exhibition in Bangalore, said the plant would produce rifles for the Indian market but did not rule out exporting them to other countries.

"In the future, both sides will decide whether to sell to third countries the rifles produced by the joint venture," he stressed.

Vladimir Dmitriev, the chief executive of Kalashnikov Corporation, said in an interview to Sputnik and the Kommersant newspaper last month that the gunmaker was considering producing the newest series of rifles, the AK-200, at the Indian plant.