Mikhail Kalashnikov, the designer of the AK-47 assault rifle, wrote a letter to the head of the Russian Orthodox Church shortly before his death expressing guilt and remorse for those killed by his invention, it emerged yesterday.
Mr Kalashnikov wrote the letter to Russian Orthodox Patriach Kirill last April, only eight months before his death on 23 December at the age of 94. It describes his "unbearable spiritual torment" at knowing about the deaths his invention had brought worldwide.
In the lengthy letter – reproduced in Russian newspaper Izvestia yesterday – Mr Kalashnikov wrote: "My spiritual torment is unbearable. One and the same question: if my rifle killed people does that mean that I, Mikhail Kalashnikov, 93 years of age, the son of a peasant, Christian and Orthodox by faith, am responsible for people’s deaths, even if they were enemies?
“The longer I live," he continued, "the more this question drills itself into my brain and the more I wonder why the Lord allowed man to have the devilish desires of envy, greed and aggression."
Mr Kalashnikov set out to design a durable rifle in 1946 while recovering from an injury as a response to the Red Army's lack of weapons during World War II. More than 100 million AK-47s, or Kalashnikovs, are now in existence and continue to be manufactured unlicensed in over 20 countries across the world. Each year, around 250,000 people are believed to die from wounds inflicted by an AK-47. The gun can be bought in some war zones for as little as US$10.
Mr Kalashnikov has publicly defended his invention as a tool for defending his country, but expressed remorse over how it has been misused, particularly placed into the hands of child soldiers.
The weapons-designer was an atheist for much of his life. In the letter he describes the "excitement" he felt on first entering a church at the age of 91, and later was baptised into the Russian Orthodox faith. The letter is signed by Mr Kalashnikov who describes himself as "a slave of God, the designer Mikhail Kalashnikov".
Spokesman Alexander Volkov said Patriarch Kirill had welcomed the letter and replied to it.
Mr Volkov said: “This letter was very welcome at a time of attacks on the Church. The Patriarch thanked the legendary designer for his attention.” He said that the Patriarch had answered that Mr Kalashnikov “was himself an example of patriotism and appropriate attitude to the country".
He added: "The Church has a very definite position: when weapons serve to protect the Fatherland, the Church supports both its creators and the soldiers who use it. He designed this rifle to defend his country, not so terrorists could use it in Saudi Arabia.”
The AK-47 was part of a family of assault weapons that have been called Russia's most successful global brand.
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