At 90, Kalashnikov is going great guns

Vladimir Radyuhin

 
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Mikhail Kalashnikov (right) at the festivities to celebrate the latter’s 90th birthday at the Kremlin in Moscow on Tuesday.

MOSCOW: At 90, the father of the world’s most famous gun, Mikhail Kalashnikov, is as robust as his legendary AK-47 assault rifle.

He took just one day off his duties as Chief Designer at the Izhmash arms factory to go to Moscow, 1,300 km away, to receive the country’s highest award, Hero of Russia, from President Dmitry Medvedev. Presenting the award in the Kremlin on Tuesday, Mr. Medvedev hailed Mr. Kalashnikov as the man who “turned Russian weapons into some of the best national brands”.

Dressed in a General’s uniform, Mr. Kalashnikov said he was a “happy man” who had but one regret — that his gun was being used to kill innocent people. “I created a weapon to defend the fatherland’s borders. It’s not my fault that it was sometimes used where it shouldn’t have been. This is the fault of politicians,” he said.

The semi-literate sergeant invented the AK-47 gun when he was recovering from a serious wound in a frontline hospital during World War Two.

“It’s simple, it’s cheap, it’s indestructible,” said U.S journalist Larry Kahaner, who wrote a history of the gun called The AK-47: The Weapon That Changed the Face of War. “You can fix it with a coat hanger and a piece of gum. You can bury it for 10 years in the sand, pick it up out of the ground and it still works.”

More than 100 million Kalashnikov rifles have been sold worldwide and they are in service with the armies of 106 countries, but Mr. Kalashnikov has not personally profited from his invention because it has never been patented. Today he supplements his salary and pension by patenting other products bearing his name, such as the Kalashnikov Vodka.

A bankruptcy suit was filed last month against Izhmash as the global crisis and proliferation of copycats plunged Mr. Kalashnikov’s factory into financial turmoil. Izhmash said its share of the global production of Kalashnikovs accounted for a mere 10 per cent and it loses $500 million annually in damages from piracy. The plant plans to fight back with newer versions which feature a lighter design and more accuracy.