Italian firearms maker Beretta agreed to consider opening a production unit in Russia, Russian Technologies chief Sergei Chemezov told Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, according to a government transcript released Thursday.
If the deal materializes, Beretta could supply the country's special forces and police, Chemezov said in a meeting late Wednesday with Putin and Kirov Governor Nikita Belykh.
A foreign producer would find the Russian market largely pristine because the country's own defense companies mainly supply the armed forces, experts believe.
Chemezov said talks were underway with Beretta about creating a joint venture on the premises of a floundering defense factory — named Molot, or Hammer — near Kirov. Owned by Chemezov's state corporation, Molot makes hunting rifles, pellet pistols and a range of civilian goods, such as parts for oil and gas equipment.
At the meeting, Chemezov reported that the federal and local governments had made good on a promise to pay the factory's workers their back salaries, worth 300 million rubles ($9.9 million), which he described as the “biggest wage arrears” in Russia. As a way to keep the jobs, Molot may house the joint venture “planned” by Beretta, “hopefully in the beginning of next year,” he said.
In addition to pistols for police and special forces, the venture would crank out hunting and competition guns for sale in Russia and the former Soviet republics, Chemezov said.
Stefano Quarena, a Fabbrica d'Armi Pietro Beretta spokesman, said he was unaware of the talks.
“We need to investigate,” he said by telephone fr om Gardone Val Trompia, Italy. “I need to check with the owners of the company.”
He did say Russia was a “strategic” market for the company wh ere it set up a local distributor, named Russian Eagle, in 2008 to build a sales network and further study demand.
Boris Vesnin, a spokesman for Belykh, said the Kirov regional government was being informed about the talks but had no knowledge about the size of the planned investment.
A source familiar with the situation said contacts with the Italian company were at a very early stage and that neither side had named any financial estimates.
A spokesman for Russian Technologies declined further comment when contacted Thursday afternoon. A woman at Russian Eagle, who declined to identify herself when she answered the phone, said no one was available to speak about Beretta's position on the Russian market.
Russian gun manufacturers have fallen behind the worldwide trend of developing firearms that cater to the needs of special operations and law enforcement agencies, such as having a larger magazine to confront gangs, said Ruslan Pukhov, director of the Center for the Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, an independent defense industry think tank.
As a result, the country's agencies have taken to importing foreign-made firearms, he said.
Based in a country with closer ties to Russia than some other Western states, Beretta may well invest in a Russian production facility if it wants so, Pukhov said. Chemezov, on the other hand, is a heavyweight lobbyist capable of securing enviable sales, he said.
The government in 2009 included Beretta-92 guns, along with some other foreign models, on the list of firearms that prosecutors and police investigators can wear for self-defense. The Interior Ministry, which received permission in 2007 to use foreign firearms, said in December that it had begun equipping its special units with Austria's Glock 17 pistols.
Other authorized foreign manufacturers include the Czech Republic's Ceska Zbrojovka, Austria's Steyr Mannlicher Gmbh & Co KG and Germany's Heckler & Koch.