Dmitry Medvedev, the presidential front-runner in Russia, takes aim with a Kalashnikov rifle during a visit to a factory in Izhevsk. (Reuters)

New Delhi, Feb. 20: Mikhail Timofeyevich’s terrible legacy spawned a culture that changed the face of war forever.

But now the Avtomat Kalashnikov assault rifle that bears his surname is struggling to recreate a culture in which everything Russian was the preferred choice for the Indian armed forces.

The makers of the Kalash, arguably the best-known name in small arms, were tucked away in a five-foot-by-five-foot prefab stall in the Russian zone of arms trade fair Defexpo 2008 that ended yesterday.

Light gleamed off the polished wooden butt of an original AK put up on one wall.

And behind the limp and straggly locks of Izhmash’s lanky marketing director, Andrey Baryshnikov, there were the newer variants, painted black from butt to barrel, fascinating in their ugliness.

In his demeanour, Baryshnikov displayed no anxiety. The Kalash was positioned much like champagne, he suggested — if you want the original, get it from the original.

The Indian Insas, the Bulgarian AR, the Chinese version and the Polish model are to the Kalash what any cheap sparkling wine is to the French real stuff. “During the time of the Soviet Union, the technology was given more or less for free,” Baryshnikov said.

Times have changed so much since then that former Soviet ally Bulgaria is now a Nato member country. Its Kalash variant, the AR — also represented in this fair — competes for international orders against the Kalash.

Kalash’s makers have serious copyright issues with the clones but have been careful to avoid getting into a tiff with the Insas. “I believe the Insas is not a Kalash,” asserted Baryshnikov. “But it has drawn some features from it.”

Izhmash now takes patenting more seriously. It is only into government-to-government deals and the new Russian policies to promote it have ensured that the Kalashnikov name is still popular enough to be also granted to a Vodka.

Nearly 70 per cent of its annual turnover of about half-a-billion dollars comes from exports. But Russia and Izhmash have studiously avoided taking up patenting issues with India, where the standard issue rifle in the army is the Insas 5.56 calibre.

The good-heartedness has not paid off much so far.

“We have not really sold anything much here (in India) in 18 years,” Baryshnikov said. “But, yes, we were here in the last Defexpo, and the Defexpo before that. No, we have not supplied Kalash to India.”

But Izhmash has supplied the 7.62mm Dragunov sniper rifle. “We do spot a market niche here,” he said.

Across two halls, an Indian Army officer looked up a Barrett’s in the US Pavilion. “We never knew about these for long. We should try them out.”

India is casting the net for procurements wider than ever before. Russian equipment are still the standard but tardy work on the Gorshkov aircraft carrier, hurdles in transferring technology for the T-90 main battle tank and doubts over whether Russia will be able to fulfil an order for submarines in time means that confidence in Moscow’s deliverables is plummeting fast.

For any military force, consignments of small arms easily make up some of the largest consignments in their yearly intake. India’s 1.2 million strong army, its central paramilitary forces and the state police forces generate a demand for assault rifles that the Ordnance Factory Board’s establishments in Cossipore and Ishapore cannot meet.

That is where the Kalash was seeking a ray of light. It was looking to bid for an order of up to 70,000 guns for the Railway Protection Force.