I designed AK-47s to defend USSR - it's not my fault terrorists use them

IT WAS the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union that motivated Mikhail Kalashnikov to design the assault rifle that bears his name. But, six decades later, he laments its transformation into the worldwide weapon of choice for terrorists and gangsters.

The 86-year-old Russian gun- maker says: "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?'

"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?"

The question is especially acute, as an 11-day United Nations' conference on curbing the small-arms trade is due to convene later this month in New York. Mr Kalashnikov may send the delegates a statement.

Sturdy, simple and cheap, and firing 600 bullets a minute, the world's estimated 100 million Kalashnikovs account for up to 80 per cent of all assault rifles. In Africa's civil conflicts or in violence-ridden Latin American nations, they sell for as little as 8.

The weapon's genesis dates back to 1941, when Mr Kalashnikov was in hospital with severe wounds from a German shell that hit his tank in the battle of Bryansk in western Russia. Thinking about the Soviet forces' inferiority due to their lack of an automatic weapon, he had a brainstorm one night and jotted down a rough design that he worked on for much of the next six months, assisted by Red Army colleagues.

They worked, he says, "in a burst of enthusiasm, out of a huge desire to make a contribution to victory over the fascist invaders".

That weapon would become the Kalashnikov, also called the AK-47 after the year the design was finally perfected. Two years later, it became standard issue for the Soviet army.

It came too late for service in the Second World War, but it earned its reputation in the Cold War that followed, exported by the Soviet Union to arm Third World allies and insurgents.

The rifle proved ideal for desert and jungle - easily assembled and able to keep firing in sandy or wet conditions that would jam an American-made M-16 equivalent.

Although the Soviet Union is dead, the Kalashnikov's empire thrives. It is manufactured in updated models in more than a dozen countries and is used by the armed forces of more than 50 states, as well as militant groups from Afghanistan to Somalia.

It is 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 at 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," its designer says.

Today, it is the first piece of technology many children in conflict zones will encounter. Boy soldiers routinely carry the weapon. It has also come back to haunt the modern Russian army. In the war in Chechnya, both sides wield Kalashnikovs.

Viktor Myasnikov, a defence expert from the Nezavisimaya Gazeta newspaper in Russia, says many imitations are produced in Africa.

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

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

Izhmash, the company in the Russian city of Izhevsk that manufactures the AK series, refuses to name customers. Mr Myasnikov says the rifles have only been sold in their thousands each year, and that they are exported to Latin American and Middle East police. But a recent Venezuelan order for 100,000 has hugely boosted production.

Mr Kalashnikov is still the state-controlled company's chief designer. He never made any money from royalties because his invention was never patented: "At that time, patenting was not an issue... we worked for socialist society, for the good of the people, which I never regret."

He is proud that US soldiers in Vietnam and Iraq have compared the Kalashnikov well with the M-16.

• Kenyan police said yesterday a man killed five people in a rampage with an AK-47. A mob beheaded his brother after failing to find him.