Americans Can No Longer Buy Kalashnikovs, Although They’ve Been Ordered Three Years in Advance

Yesterday, the U.S. published three new lists of entities that fall under sanction. The sectoral list includes Vneshekonombank, Gasprombank, Rosneft and Novatek. Eight enterprises in the Russian military-industrial complex, an oil terminal in Feodosiya and the self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk made it onto the organizational list. The list of individuals includes five people, from Vice Speaker of the State Duma Sergei Neverov to Premier Minister of the DPR Aleksandr Borodaya.

Limitations on debt and equity financing by U.S. entities and from the territory of the U.S. have been introduced against the first category of companies. The entities on the second and third lists are subject to the same regime as those who were on the earlier lists (Russia Bank, Sobinbank, Gennady Timchenko, the Rotenberg brothers, Russian and Crimean diplomats and deputies and former leaders of Ukraine).

The famous Kalashnikov Group and the ammunition supplier Bazalt are among security companies that have been sanctioned. Sanctions against them are “of the traditional type, which means that companies in the U.S., or with connections to the U.S., are not allowed to conduct business with them. All of their assets that are located under American jurisdiction will be blocked,” explains Erich Ferrari, the founder of the Washington law firm Ferrari & Associates. For example, the U.S. Department of the Treasury made it clear that Americans who already have Kalashnikovs may keep them and trade them on the market; however, they may neither buy new ones directly from Russia, nor attain them from a third party.

According to an announcement on the Kalashnikov website, sanctions “are contrary to the interests of American consumers” who have ordered the product three years in advance. “The U.S. is an important market for the sale of civilian weaponry and it is evident that the product is in high demand due to the pre-order of the product, which is three times greater than the annual supply,” notes the announcement.

Among other defense companies that have been sanctioned by the U.S. are the Almaz-Antei Group, Izhmash, UralVagonZavod, KRET and Sozvezdie, as well as The KBP named after Academician A. Shipunov and NPO Mashinostroyenia.

*Editor’s Note: The quotations in this article, accurately translated, could not be verified.