The designer of the fabled AK-47 automatic rifle, Mikhail Kalashnikov, has died in Russia at the age of 94.
He was seen in the former Soviet Union as a national hero and symbol of Moscow's proud military past, though the weapon he designed became synonymous with killing on a sometimes indiscriminate scale.
Mikhail Kalashnikov. Photo: AFP
Mr Kalashnikov designed his rifle in 1947, driven by Soviet defeats in the early years of WWII at the hands of far better armed German soldiers.
He has said he had never intended for it to become the preferred weapon in conflicts around the world.
"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 during an award ceremony at the Kremlin to mark his 90th birthday.
The rifle quickly became prized for its sturdy reliability in difficult field conditions and Mr Kalashnikov was honoured with the Soviet Union's top awards including the Lenin and the Stalin prizes, AFP reports.
AK-47's name stands for "Kalashnikov's Automatic" and the year it was designed. Also called the Kalashnikov, the rifle and its variants are the weapons of choice for dozens of armies and guerilla groups.
More than 100 million Kalashnikov rifles have been sold worldwide and they are wielded by fighters in such far-flung conflict zones as Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia.
Born in a Siberian village as the 17th child of family on November 10, 1919, Mr Kalashnikov had a tragic childhood during which his father was deported under the rule of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin in 1930.
In October 1941, in fierce battles around Bryansk, he was heavily wounded and shell-shocked. According to his official biography, he first conceived of the weapon while recovering in hospital.
The inventor has barely profited financially from them and lived modestly in Izhevsk, an industrial town 1300 kilometres east of Moscow.
The design was never patented internationally and the Izmash factory that manufactured the weapon always complained that its potential income was hit badly by "pirated" versions of the designs made abroad.
The 205-year-old Izmash plant remains one of the main producers of Russian weapons and is treasured as a national icon.
The Izmash factory in the central Russian region of Udmurtia has fallen on hard times after a collapse in orders following the fall of the USSR, a fact that prompted Mr Kalashnikov to make a personal appeal to President Vladimir Putin.
