By Artyom Liss BBCRussian.com, Kovrov

David Lipsman: Intruders have been shot

An Igla missile may have been successfully smuggled to the US - as revealed by this week's sting operation - but security seemed pretty tight when I arrived at the plant where they are made.

The local Federal Security Service chief ruled that journalists should be barred from the premises of the Degtyrev factory.

We were only able to film outside the huge iron gates.

Many aircraft have been shut down by Stinger missiles, and nobody ever seemed to hold it against them David Lipsman Chief engineer The Igla 18 in detail

"We have had intruders here, but they all got shot by security".

His manner lent itself to any interpretation, from slightly ironic to dead serious.

Guarded convoy

Mr Lipsman insisted that if a missile ever did end up in the wrong hands, questions ought to be asked at weapons silos or small arms-trading companies outside Russia.

"When a load of missiles goes out of the factory, it does so in a guarded convoy and heads straight for the Ministry of Defence storage facilities," he said.

"From there, it is delivered to army silos or to Rosoboronexport, which deals with all foreign trade."

This factory in the small city of Kovrov, 200 miles east of Moscow, has known better times.

At the height of the 1970s arms race it employed 30,000 people - 20% of the local adult population.

In recent years this figure has halved. But the security arrangements are as strict as ever.

The Igla missiles which are now rolling off the assembly line are a new generation of the system developed over 40 years ago.

They are in high demand in hot spots ranging from the Middle East to South East Asia.

Marketing trick?

"You can fire it and forget all about it. The newer ones will explode close to the target and bring it down even if you miss by a few feet. Just about anybody can be trained to an expert level in less than three weeks", said Mr Lipsman.

'MISSILE STING' How the sting happened What is a legal sting? 'Old enemies' work together

But he added that it is far-fetched to say that the missile is a weapon of choice for terrorists.

"Many aircraft have been shut down by Stinger missiles, and nobody ever seemed to hold it against them," he said.

Factory staff seemed convinced that the story about an Igla missile being smuggled into the US by a UK arms trader was part of a marketing operation set up by their competitors.

In fact everybody we spoke to in Kovrov seemed to agree.

Locals here are generally wary of Westerners, and in a town where the most popular means of transport is the Voskhod motorbike - the factory's only official product during the Soviet era - walls are now plastered with posters of RNE, the Russian nationalist movement.

Just as he was wishing us a happy journey back to Moscow, David Lipsman noticed one of these posters, featuring a huge black and white fascist swastika, on the factory wall.

In a single majestic nod he ordered his head of security to scrape it off.

Managers of the Degtyrev factory want to be seen as an example of how Soviet industry can work for the new, pro-Western Russia - and symbols of the rising nationalist movement do not set the right tone.