Need optics for my Arsenal SAM5 and SAM7 rifles, and figured one of them would get a Russian one because of that whole "Would Mikhail approve thing."
According to the chart on Russianoptics.net, they both co-witness, both take AA, and have about the same battery life.
VS is lighter, but that doesn't translate to better if it will break.
The commentary on that site is  that the VS is "best of the "combloc" tube based red dots."
Both optics are the same price on the akstuff website.

Any other opinions, especially directly comparing the two optics?

The PK01VS just doesn't have the fatal flaws that all the other commie optics have and the price is cheaper than a used Aimpoint + an AK mount so it's hard to go wrong.

For a 1x optic for the side railed AK it's the best I've seen so far and I've many of the commie optics.

AJ

I just tried my PK-A Venezuela for the first time last weekend.  I'm very pleased with it.  I have mild astigmatism, so the dot is a bit smeared.  Didn't hinder me too much.  It's heavy, seems built like a tank.  Co-witnesses on my SAM7SF.  Did not co-witness on my WASR.  I don't look at the irons through it, but it is nice to get a quick zero for the dot using the irons.  Claimed battery life sounds good.  I just purchased the other Venezuela optic, the PO3.5x21p with a 7.62 reticle.