In praise of the AK-47
Russia is putting Kalashnikov on a pedestal, literally and metaphorically.
Literally, a statue of Mikhail Kalashnikov, the inventor of the iconic AK-47 rifle, was unveiled in downtown Moscow on Tuesday. Metaphorically, the Kremlin is pushing his rifle as “a true cultural brand of Russia.”
The Kalashnikov rifle, in all its forms, is the most popular weapon ever made. It has killed more people than any other single weapon, including the atomic bomb. The rifle’s Russian designer died in 2013. The statue honouring Kalashnikov was unveiled amid much pomp and ceremony. A military band played the Russian national anthem and patriotic songs from the Second World War. There were speeches and a full honour guard, in dress uniforms, and carrying — of course — Kalashnikovs.
An Orthodox priest sprinkled holy water on the statue. It stands on a pedestal in a square on Moscow’s busy Garden Ring thoroughfare. Kalashnikov is wear- ing a bomber jacket and clutching one of his creations. Underneath is a quote attributed to him: “I have created a weapon for the defence of my Motherland.”
He came up with the basic design for the weapon after being wounded in the Great Patriotic War, fighting the Nazis — what we call the Second World War.
Russia’s Minister of Culture, Vladimir Medinsky, made the keynote speech and he again pushed the idea of Kalashnikov as “a Russian cultural brand.”
All this fits with the Kremlin’s efforts to glorify the Russian and Soviet past. That elevation of the AK-47 into a cultural phenomenon, though, makes some Russians uncomfortable.
They say it puts this killing machine on a par with brands such as Coca-Cola or Levi’s in America, or Champagne in France.
Aprotester was arrested at the unveiling after pulling out a sign saying, “a creator of weapons is a creator of death.”