Did Kalashnikov regret his invention?
During his long lifetime Mikhail Kalashnikov expressed few regrets about his deadly eponymous invention. “I sleep soundly,” he once said. Kalashnikov, who died last month aged 94, told Patriarch Kirill he felt responsible for the millions of deaths caused by his revolutionary sub-machine gun.
What happened Kalashnikov?
Death. After a prolonged illness, Kalashnikov was hospitalized on 17 November 2013, in an Udmurtian medical facility in Izhevsk, the capital of Udmurtia and where he lived. He died 23 December 2013, at age 94 from gastric hemorrhage.
What did Mikhail Kalashnikov write before his death?
In January 2014, a letter that Kalashnikov wrote six months before his death to the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, was published by the Russian daily newspaper Izvestia. In the letter, he stated that he was suffering “spiritual pain” about whether he was responsible for the deaths caused by the weapons he created.
What did Patriarch Kirill say about Kalashnikov?
Izvestia quoted Kirill’s spokesman Alexander Volkov as saying the Patriarch responded to Kalashnikov and praised him as a true patriot. “If the weapon is used to defend the Motherland, the Church supports both its creators and the servicemen using it,” the newspaper quoted Volkov as saying.
What did Mikhail Kalashnikov name his first rifle?
His winning entry, the “Mikhtim” (so named by taking the first letters of his name and patronymic, Mikhail Timofeyevich) became the prototype for the development of a family of prototype rifles. This process culminated in 1947, when he designed the AK-47 (standing for Avtomat Kalashnikova model 1947).
When did Mikhail Kalashnikov visit the United States?
During a visit to the United States in the early 2000s, Kalashnikov was invited to tour a Virginia holding site for the forthcoming American Wartime Museum. The former tanker Kalashnikov became visibly moved at the sight of his old tank in action, painted with his name in Cyrillic.