http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=aNP67.Rf5TBM&refer=latin_america
Russia to Start Work on Venezuela Kalashnikov Plants in October
By Ellen Pinchuk and Sebastian Alison
Aug. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Russia will start building two plants in October to make Kalashnikov assault rifles in Venezuela, the first country to win a production license for the guns since the fall of the Soviet Union.
Production of the AK-103 in Venezuela is scheduled to begin ``by the end of 2009 or the start of 2010,'' said Vladimir Grodetsky, head of state-run arms maker Izhmash. One plant will produce AK-103 assault rifles and the other will produce .762 caliber bullets, Grodetsky said in an interview today in Izhevsk, the central Russian city where Izhmash is based.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez discussed the factories with President Vladimir Putin in June during his fifth trip to Russia. Chavez is continuing an arms buildup that has cost more than $4.3 billion since 2005. Russia is the South American nation's main weapons supplier.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Ellen Pinchuk in Izhevsk via the Moscow newsroom at epinchuk@bloomberg.net
Sebastian Alison in Moscow at Salison1@bloomberg.net
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