Statue in honour of gun designer Mikhail Kalashnikov unveiled in Moscow
A monument to Mikhail Kalashnikov, the designer of the prolific assault rifle that bears his name, has been unveiled in Moscow.
Kalashnikov died in 2013 aged 94 in the city of Izhevsk where he lived.
He was the creator of the AK-47 assault rifle, the world’s most popular firearm.
An estimated 100 million guns are spread worldwide.
Russian Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky said at the monument’s opening on Tuesday that the Kalashnikov rifle has become "Russia’s cultural brand".
The monument in Moscow shows Kalashnikov cradling his rifle.
Kalashnikov, born into a peasant family in Siberia, began brooding about a new rifle design after being wounded in a 1941 battle against Nazi forces, and finished it in 1947.
