Fri, Feb 10 2012

Bulgaria manufactures illegal assault rifles, Russian firms says

Thu, Nov 20 2008 11:49 CET

byNick Iliev

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Bulgaria was one of the seven or eight countries that was making illegal AK-47 assault rifles and then selling them to third-world countries, a top Russian official said, as reported by Russian agency ITAR-TASS, quoted by Bulgarian news agency BTA on November 20.

"Around the world there is a total disregard for the Russian assault rifles AK-47. There is illegal production of the assault rifles around the world and Bulgaria is one of the major culprits," the special assignments director at Russian arms trader Rosoborenonexport, Nikolay Demedyuk, said at a news conference in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.

"Americans allowed Bulgarians to build a factory in the United States, where Bulgarians manufacture AK-47 assault rifles and then proceed to sell them in Iraq and Afghanistan," Demedyuk was quoted as saying.

The Russian official said that he would not name specifically other countries who illegally produce the rifles because he doesn't want to "insult" them. Just why Bulgaria received that "special treatment" of identification however, remains a mystery. The country is part of the international coalitions that have peacekeeping troups in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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