MOSCOW. Feb 20 (Interfax) - A contract for setting up a joint Kalashnikov rifle plant between Russia and Saudi Arabia is undergoing interstate coordination, Russian Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov said.
"As for the contract for the first stage of the joint production of Kalashnikov rifles, it has been signed by the sides and is undergoing interstate coordination procedures, after which the contract will take effect," Manturov said in an interview with the Kommersant newspaper.
A number of military-technical cooperation documents were signed in fall 2017, as a result of a visit of Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to Moscow. The documents include a memorandum of the purchase and localized production of the TOS-1A heavy flamethrower systems, Kornet-EM anti-tank missile complexes, and AGS-30 grenade launchers.
A source told Interfax in April 2019 that Russia had begun to deliver heavy flamethrower systems to Saudi Arabia.
Head of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation Dmitry Shugayev told the press at the MAKS air show in August 2019 that Russia was supplying weapons to Saudi Arabia. "We are implementing the delivery contract," Shugayev said.
As the oil sites in Saudi Arabia were attacked in September 2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin offered Riyadh to buy Russian air defense missile systems, either S-300 or S-400 (Almaz-Antey).
As Interfax reported earlier, Russia and Saudi Arabia have prepared a contract for the delivery of S-400 long-range air defense systems. The Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation said that Russia and Saudi Arabia were discussing terms of contract activation.