Pistols are occasionally issued to Samozniy forces, but are rarely used, except by plainclothes Spetsnaz, the police force and officials as emergency sidearms.
Instead, the Samozniy armed forces doles out the Scion Defence MP5KS in its
millions, to any unit that will accept it.
Being based on an MP5K, it's lightweight and durable, and fires a 6.8mm high powered cartridge making it an ideal weapon as a secondary - as well as high close range stopping power, the heavy round (coupled with automatic fire) mean that such a PDW-type weapon is much more effective at medium range than a standard pistol.
Whilst not frequently issued to Regular forces riflemen (who prefer to forgo the secondary weapon in favour of additional ammunition, supplies or occasionally a much heavier SA-CS-1 Grizzly combat shotgun), it is the common secondary weapon to Spetsnaz, Shock Vanguards, heavy weapons specialists and snipers, and is typically the
primary weapon of aircrew, armoured vehicle crew, non-marine naval crew (for defence against boarders) and artillery gunners.
It is also issued to almost every standing police force member in the People's Republic, especially Riot Crews in addition to the Grizzly combat shotgun. The exception is civilian 'Air Marshall' crews, armed with low-calibre pistols, and also motorcycle traffic police, who also favour much lighter pistols.