Russia tells Afghans to halt unlicensed arms use

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia told Afghanistan on Wednesday to stop using illegal copies of weapons and to instead buy authentic, Russian-made hardware, news agencies reported.

Russia, which expects to make a post-Soviet record of $8 billion from arms exports in 2008 according to the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, repeatedly has called for stricter control of licensed weapons technologies, particularly its popular Kalashnikov machinegun.

"We cannot but be amazed that Afghanistan buys and uses weapons built with Russian technology, but not under Russian licence," Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei Borodavkin was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti news agency.

"It would be correct if such weapons were delivered from Russia and not from third countries," Borodavkin was quoted as saying.

Moscow lost its influence in Afghanistan in 1989 when Soviet troops withdrew after a bitter decade-long intervention in support of Kabul's communist government.

The country has been governed by a U.S.-backed administration since the Taliban rule was overthrown following the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.

"If the Afghan government decides to buy Russian arms, in principle we are ready to consider requests of this kind," Borodavkin said.