Antonov control cables

I was at an airshow this summer and saw an Antonov AN-2 Colt. I have
always liked them since I saw the first one ever brought into the
country back in 1976. This time I noticed the rudder control cables.
The end of the cable at the rudder horns was wrapped around a thimble
but then things got weird. The cable was not clamped back on itself
with a copper sleeve like a nicopress sleeve and it was not woven into
itself like a tuck splice.

The cable looked like it was simply wrapped over itself three or four
times and then covered with some kind of heat shrinkable metal sleeve.
This metal sleeve was definitely shrunken over cable and you could see
that the bitter end of the cable was wrapped around the standing end.
This sleeve was not rubber or plastic like the heat shrink used in
wiring. I scraped at with my fingernail and it was definitely metal of
some sort. I would estimate now that the sleeve was at least two
inches long and maybe longer.

Has anyone else noticed this with Soviet/Russian style aircraft? Is
this standard practice in Eastern Europe? Any idea how this technique
compares with Nicopress or the tuck splice for strength and durability?

Regards to all,

John Dupre'