Defence Minister Panos Kammenos on Tuesday told members of a relevant defense committee in Parliament that the leftist Greek government wants to sign an agreement with Russia to jointly produce the iconic assault rifle AK-47 at a state-run plant in the country.
“At the EBO plant in Egio (a small coastal city in the northern Peloponnese), once the embargo with Russia is over,” he clarified, mentioning the state-run Greek defense industry.
Kammenos, an outspoken lawmaker, created and heads the small rightist-populist Independent Greeks (AN.EL) party, the junior coalition partner to the majority SYRIZA party.
In revealing the initiative, he said a production line of the specific assault rifles, known around the world as the “Kalashnikov”, in honor of their Russian inventor, would also enjoy a NATO certification, since they would be produced in Greece.
He also ticked off other contracts he said were in the works with India and Egypt, among others.
Kammenos’ latest publicly aired pledge was that “as long as this government exists there is no chance of the state defense industry closing.”
In a more formal setting, a majority of the committee members ratified bilateral agreements with Israel and Egypt, respectively, for the military-portion of the implementation of the Single European Sky ATM Research.
