An established arms-producing plant fired four employees — including its deputy director for safety — after a stockpile of Kalashnikov rifles was mistakenly sold to a pensioner for $15 last month, RIA-Novosti reported.
Maxim Kuzyuk, director of the Izhmash plant, criticized staff for "incorrectly defining the storage location of combat weapons" and managers for not checking up on the observance of safety standards.
The cache of 79 fully functioning rifles was meant to be scrapped, but the wooden crates containing the weapons got lost and ended up being sold for firewood to a resident of the Udmurtia republic village of Sovkhozny.
Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin had earlier promised to open an investigation into the incident.
