‘Can I be blamed that they consider it the most reliable weapon?’

GUNSMITH Mikhail Kalashnikov says he designed the assault rifle that bears his name to fend off the German invasion of the Soviet Union.

But six decades later, he laments its transformation into the weapon of choice for terrorists and gangsters.

“Whenever I look at TV and I see the weapon I invented to defend my motherland in the hands of these bin Ladens I ask myself the same question: How did it get into their hands?” the 86-year-old Russian said.

“I didn’t put it in the hands of bandits and terrorists and it’s not my fault that it has mushroomed uncontrollably across the globe. Can I be blamed that they consider it the most reliable weapon?”

A UN conference on curbing the small-arms trade convenes later this month in New York. Mr Kalashnikov is thinking of sending the delegates a statement.

Sturdy, simple and cheap, firing 600 bullets a minute, the world’s 100 million Kalashnikovs account for up to 80% of all assault rifles. In Africa’s civil conflicts or in violence-ridden Latin American nations, it sells for little more than 10.

Its genesis dates to 1941, when Mr Kalashnikov was in hospital with severe wounds from a German shell that hit his tank.

Thinking about the Soviet forces’ inferiority due to their lack of an automatic weapon, he says he had a brainstorm one night and jotted down a rough design. He worked on it for six months, assisted by Red Army colleagues.

It would become the Kalashnikov, also called the AK-47, for the year the design was completed. Two years later it became standard issue for Soviet forces.

It proved ideal for desert and jungle — easily assembled and able to keep firing in sandy or wet conditions that would jam a US-made M-16.

The Soviet Union is dead, but the Kalashnikov empire thrives. Updated models — AK-74, AK-101, AK-103 — are made in Russia.

The AK-74 is produced by more than a dozen other countries and is used by the armed forces of 50 countries as well as militant groups.

It’s seen in Osama bin Laden’s videotapes and on the flags of Mozambique and the Hezbollah fighters of Lebanon.

“We sold the weapons to some countries for a symbolic price or even for nothing, with the aim of assisting national liberation struggles. Of course, this meant the Kalashnikov became available around the world,” the designer said.

It has also come back to haunt the modern Russian army. In the war in Chechnya, both sides wield Kalashnikovs.

At the UN conference, human rights groups will push for a treaty banning the export of small arms and other conventional weapons to countries where they are likely to be used to trample human rights.

Mr Kalashnikov said Amnesty International and Oxfam have asked him to write a statement for their campaign against small-arms proliferation, and he is also thinking of sending a separate statement addressed to the UN conference.

Despite his advanced age, he is still chief designer of the state-controlled company. He says he never earned royalties because his invention was never patented.

“At that time, patenting inventions wasn’t an issue in our country. We worked for socialist society, for the good of the people, which I never regret,” he said.