Seagal turns to Tigr

Seagal turns to Tigr


Kremlin is striving for abolishing the Russian small arms supplies restrictions in the US. Vice Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin held a meeting with Steven Seagal and invited him to facilitate the reconsideration of Russian-American agreement restraining the modern Russian small arms deliveries to the USA.

The meeting of Dmitry Rogozin and Steven Seagal was held on March, 19 in the Government house.

Dmitry Rogozin drew Mr Seagal’s attention to the irrationality of the import restrictions and mentioned that this infringed upon the interests of Russian manufacturers and American citizens willing to purchase Russian hunting and sporting weapon. Rogozin underlined Russia was able to supply American market only with the old models practically designed before 1998.

Steven Seagal is one of the most influential men of the American shooting association renowned in the USA.

 “I would like to enlist your support in one crucial issue. I believe that your authority and contacts in American establishment will help to tackle the issue. As you know, Russian arms production has always been up to date and has been regarded as a serious competitor by the world’s leading manufacturers, including the Americans. Shooting association has a great influence in the US and affects the country’s society and government”, RIA Novosti quotes Rogozin.

Vice Prime Minister also told he was intended to discuss the issue with the President Obama administration representatives and to place it on Russian-American contacts agenda.

In case Russia succeeds in the restriction abolishment, IZHMASH will considerably increase its export potential. “If the agreement is canceled, Russian weapons’ presence on the US market might have a 40% raise comparing to what we have now”, The Vzglyad newspaper cites Pavel Kolegov, the IZHMASH marketing and civil weapon sales deputy CEO.

The expert believes that after the agreement is dismantled, IZHMASH will propose Saiga-9, Saiga of 22 calibre, Tigr hunting rifle and Yunker air rifle, which are banned at the moment.

Pavel Kolegov says, “The abolishment of restrictions on Russian hunting and sporting guns import to the USA will allow us to successfully compete with other weapon importers due to widening the range of hunting and sporting weapon sold within the US.”

Note

The agreement on voluntary export restraints between Russia and the USA was concluded on April, 3 1996 (The Chernomyrdin-Gore list). It discourages the import of modern Russian small arms to the American market. The agreement regulates the list of 74 items permitted for the import to the USA. However, everything not included in the list is prohibited for export to America. The Saiga-12 self-loading smooth bored shotgun enters the list along with the Saiga, Los, Bars, Record, Sobol, Korshun hunting rifles and the Biatlon sporting gun. Saiga-12 deliveries for American police commenced in January, 2012.  The agreement restricts exporting of some key weapons, for example the Tigr hunting rifle based on the Dragunov sniper rifle.