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Putin says launching Kalashnikov rifle plant will help enhance India’s defense potential

The plant will become another symbol of friendship and cooperation between the two countries, Russian President stressed

© Michail Metzel/TASS

MOSCOW, March 3. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent his greetings to the participants and guests of an opening ceremony for the Russian-Indian plant on manufacturing Kalashnikov assault rifles.

"I’m sure that launching a new enterprise will contribute to enhancing India’s defense potential, further development of scientific and production basis of the country’s economy and provide for creating new jobs for skilled workforce and give impetus for professional education and training personnel," Putin said in a telegram, according to the Kremlin website.

The plant will become another symbol of friendship and cooperation between the two countries, Putin stressed. The production of small arms based on Russian technologies will help India meet the demands of law enforcement personnel, he noted.

Earlier on Sunday, a plant on manufacturing AK-203 Kalashnikov assault rifles opened in India’s Korwa. The project stipulates manufacturing more than 700,000 rifles with gradual and full localization of production, Director of the Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation Dmitry Shugayev told reporters.

The joint Russian-Indian enterprise Indo-Russian Rifles Private Limited is co-founded by India’s Ordnance Factory Board and Rosoboronexport and the Kalashnikov Group, part of Russia’s Rostec state corporation.

The 200th series of Kalashnikov rifles was officially introduced abroad earlier this year at the IDEX 2019 in the United Arab Emirates and Aero Indi 2019 in India’s Bangalore.

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