A number of news sources (BBC, The Guardian, Moscow Times, and RT) have reported that arms maker Kalashnikov, Baikal, and Izhmash, sub divisions of Kalashnikov Group, have changed their brand logos as unveiled at an industrial meeting in Moscow. The change seems to be apart of a broader spectrum of changes to reintroduce Kalashnikov firearms as a symbol of peace and stability in the world. This is also the second time in almost a year that the company has changed it’s logo or brand name.

The Guardian says-

Equipped with a shiny new logo, shrugging off US sanctions and claiming its guns are “protecting peace”, the Russian weapons manufacturer Kalashnikov launched a major rebranding drive in Moscow on Tuesday.

Kalashnikov Concern, a new overarching brand that includes the famed assault rifles as well as hunting and sports weaponry, paid a leading Russian agency to design a new brand and renew its worldwide image

The original Kalashnikov Concern logo  (Although still used on the official website)

The new logo, which is supposed to look like a C over a K, along with representing the receiver with a magazine inserted and the curved lines being the ribs of the magazine.

The most recent Izhmash logo before Izhmash became part of Kalashnikov

The new Izhmash logo.

The Moscow Times reports that the recent sanctions against Russia have hit the company pretty hard-

Inconsistent Russian military orders and greater domestic competition have in recent years forced Kalashnikov Concern to look abroad for customers to keep its production lines running and staff employed.

Eighty percent of Kalashnikov’s civilian weapons are exported, and under a distribution deal signed last year 200,000 rifles were supposed to go to the U.S. — the world’s biggest market. Kalashnikov currently produces around 150,000 civilian weapons annually, showing the scale of its U.S. ambitions.

But these plans were cut short this summer, when the U.S. slapped sanctions on Kalashnikov to punish the Kremlin for its actions in Ukraine. The move killed the company’s U.S. expansion plans, and an EU arms embargo installed in July then froze Kalashnikov out of the European market.

“The U.S. market was very important for us,” Kalashnikov CEO Alexei Krivoruchko said at the press conference, where the struggling arms manufacturer presented a new branding and development strategy through 2020.

Part of the new branding for Baikal, aimed at hunters while the Izhmash brand is focused more on target shooters

This video is all in Russian but shows the development of various influential soviet small arms, culminating in the AK47 and its presence today through Kalashnikov Concern products.

A separate video released by the company without dialogue showing the tactical appeal of the Kalashnikov. As has been mentioned previously on TFB, it is interesting to note the sheer amount of tactical gear and equipment that is Western in origin, from the Mechanix gloves to the Norotos helmet mounts and EOTechs. The end quote is translated as-  Kalashnikov: promoting peace and calm.

The methods of operating the charging handle on AK platforms is up for much debate in the training world in the United States, but it is worthy of note that within the video from the company, the actor goes for the under the stock reach of the handle. Not that this is Russian AK doctrine, but it is from the source of the maker.