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Russia on Tuesday unveiled a statue of Mikhail Kalashnikov, inventor of the AK-47 assault rifle that became by some estimates the most lethal weapon ever made and the best known Russian brand abroad. Perched atop a pedestal in a tiny square on Moscow's busy Garden Ring thoroughfare, the statue of Kalashnikov, who died in 2013, has him dressed in a bomber jacket and clutching an AK-47 in both hands. (Image: Reuters)
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"I created a weapon for the defence of my fatherland," runs a Kalashnikov quote hewn on the pedestal. At the unveiling ceremony, a Kremlin guard of honour stood to attention as Russia's national anthem played. (Image: Reuters)
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The AK-47, the small-arms mainstay of Russia's armed forces for over 60 years, is also featured on the national emblems of several African nations and on that of East Timor. (Image: Reuters)
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Every fifth firearm in the world is a Kalashnikov and more than 70 million of the assault rifles have been produced over the past 60 years, the Kalashnikov concern said on its website. Kalashnikovs are in service in 50 foreign armies, it said. (Image: Reuters)
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Military experts say the AK-47 has killed more people than all other types of modern weapons taken together. (Image: Reuters)
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The Kalashnikov rifle is "a true cultural brand of Russia", Russian Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky said at the ceremony. (Image: Reuters)
Kalashnikov, who died aged 94, had repeatedly said that pride in his invention was mixed with the pain of seeing it used by criminals and child soldiers. <br /><br /> In this file photo of July 6, 2007, Mikhail Kalashnikov holds a prototype of his famous AK-47 assault 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, Russia. (AP Photo)
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