Prior to the Cold War, NATO and the Warsaw Pact led to the split of Germany between East and West. East Germany remained close allies with the Soviet Union and its “Nationale Volksarmee” was cared for by the Soviets. The first East-German AKs were manufactured in 1958 which were named the Nullserie, or Zero Series and were manufactured in a satellite plant located within the remote region of Erzgebirge. The East German designation for their AK variant was the MPi-K and featured a milled receiver and included a Mauser98k-inspired sling hole on the buttstock. East Germany also had plans of manufacturing their own variant of the AK-74 during the 1980s. However, due to production issues, exports of the rifles slowly began to dry up until December 1989 when all exports were ordered to be terminated.