Russians Gun for AK Profits

Others reap rewards of the Russian achievement
By Max Brallier,  Newser User
Posted Jul 15, 2007 7:24 AM CDT
Russians Gun for AK Profits
Mikhail Kalashnikov, 87, poses with his AK-47 Nr.1, a prototype of the famous AK-47 rifle, during a ceremony to mark the 60th anniversary of the worldwide assault rifle's creation in the Russia's Armed Forces Central Museum in Moscow on Friday, July 6, 2007. The red flag in the background is the banner...   (Associated Press)

The Kalashnikov, the world's most popular firearm, has been a source of mixed emotions in Russia since it was invented 60 years ago, the New York Times reports. Putin calls the killing machine a "symbol of the talent and creative genius of our people." But almost none of the AK-47's worldwide sales benefit Russia.

Buyers, including the US, mostly purchase the knock-offs and imitations that fill the market; the American military has supplied them to virtually every police officer and soldier in Afghanistan and Iraq without buying one from Russia. The gun's inventor, Mikhail Kalashnikov, now 87, complained: "I take them into my hands and, my goodness, the marks are foreign." (More Russia stories.)

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