MOSCOW. Nov 25 (Interfax) - Russia is not going to discontinue the construction of a Kalashnikov production plant in Venezuela, the chief of state corporation Rostec, Sergei Chemezov, told Interfax.
"This is not even under discussion, we will finish the construction," Chemezov said on Saturday.
The plant is due to be commissioned in 2020-2021, Dmitry Shugayev, director of the federal service for military-technical cooperation, said earlier.
"By 2020-2021, depending on the situation in this country," Shugayev told reporters at the MAKS 2019 airshow.
The construction is being hindered by the United States, Chemezov said.
"We are building a plant for making AK rifles and ammunition. The sanctions are continually hampering [the construction]: either electricity gets cut off and they would not allow deliver parts, machinery," Chemezov said.
"There was a period: it was idle for a month, it was impossible to work. Power was cut off, no work could be done. And then the Americans would not let us deliver machinery there. But we still did, quietly," Chemezov told reporter at this year's St. Petersburg international economic forum.