A Joint U.S.-Russian Weapons Company?More from Sharon Weinberger over at Wired regarding former Rep. Curt Weldon’s ties to Russia.
We learned earlier this week that Weldon’s under investigation in what is “an element of a broader U.S. Justice Department probe into what officials suspect are efforts by Russian-backed firms to gain influence or gather information in Washington.”
Now Weinberger, who co-wrote a book about nuclear weapons, found this nugget in her notes. In 2006, Weldon told her that he met with Sergey Chemezov, a former KGB officer and then the head of Rosoboronexport, which handles Russian weapons exports.
“Chemezov offers—it’s an amazing offer with Putin’s support… there are countries in the Middle East that are approaching Russia to buy replacement weapons and spare parts. Chemezov is here to say, “We want to work with America to either establish either a joint company, or even an American company that would act as a front for weapons these nations want to buy. So American would not think we’re going behind their back.”
Weldon thought it was a great idea.