The Art Neuro Weblog

A Self-Contradictory Life
Mikhail Kalashnikov, the designer of the most successful small arm of the century, the AK47 turned 85 on 10 November.

Kalashnikov is the most poignant symbol of the decline. When the Soviet Union began to crumble in 1989, the legendary gun maker was 70 years old, rich in official honors and titles, but ill prepared for the market forces about to sweep Russia.

Kalashnikov makes nothing from his gun designs. The Soviet Union had licensed more than a dozen countries to manufacture his weapons. After 1991 post-communist middlemen began selling stock out of old Soviet armories, and today there are an estimated 100 million AK-47s in circulation. The rifle is featured on the flags of Mozambique and numerous jihadist groups. Knockoffs are everywhere; General Kalashnikov and Izhmash accused the United States this summer of buying pirate AK-47s for the Iraqi police force. And authentic AK-47s remain dirt cheap. "Militarily, the guys who are buying are poor and they're insurgents and they're just going to buy AK-47s," says Old Dominion University professor and small-arms expert Aaron Karp. "They'd be foolish not to."

So there you have it. Mikhail Kalashnikov goes on to say:

The romance is gone for Kalashnikov. He says he has been very careful about lending his name only to honorable products, but less so about the financial details. "I haven't become a billionaire. I haven't become a millionaire," he says. "And I think it's unlikely I ever will."

In another article, we see:

Kalashnikov said the rifle “was created to defend the fatherland,’’ adding, ”It is a pity it was used in other inadmissible conflicts,“ The New York Times reported.

So what we have here is a man who designed commy-tommy-guns, who wishes that they weren't used to kill people; and an old-time commie who laments he isn't going to be a millionaire or a billionaire.

- Art Neuro