Domestic “AK-47,” Made In FLA, Evades Sanctions

The best-known product of Kalishnikov, one of the strongest brands in the world, is the iconic AK-47 automatic rifle, widely recognized by its curved magazine and admired for its reliability and forgiveness under harsh conditions. The Kalishnikov also has many copiers and even a few spinoffs. (A company partially controlled by the designer’s family even markets a Kalishnikov vodka, endorsed in this old video by the gun’s now deceased designer, a Russian general, the son of peasants, tinkerer and a sometime poet who late in his life expressed “spiritual pain” over the deaths his weapon had caused.) Today, through a complicated web of shell companies and intermediaries, a Florida company, said to have ties to Putin allies, is making and selling a Kalishnakov made from U.S. parts. Michael Tiraturian – who is both a senior vice president of Kalashnikov USA in Florida and a manager of a holding company whose only known business is Kalashnikov USA – told Bloomberg reporters they have spent “a fortune” on lawyers and are “very very, very careful” to be in compliance.