"For the first time ever, Russia is selling weapons to Bahrain, whose government has been given the cold shoulder by the West for a violent crackdown on anti-government protests, as part of an effort by Moscow to capitalize on the Arab Spring to increase arms sales in the lucrative Middle East market.

An unnamed official in Russia’s Defense Ministry told Bloomberg News this week that Rosoboronexport, Russia’s state-owned arms dealer, that Bahrain is buying tens of millions of dollars of AK103 Kalashnikov rifles, together with grenade launchers and ammunition. It quoted a Bahraini government spokesman as saying the two countries’ relations are “getting stronger.”