In the months before his death, AK-47 assault rifle designer Mikhail Kalashnikov expressed regret and guilt over those killed by his invention to the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Agence France-Presse reported.
In April, 94-year-old Kalashnikov wrote a lengthy emotional letter to Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill, Izvestia, a pro-Kremlin daily, reported on Monday. As he was spending more and more time at an intensive care unit for his heart problems only months earlier before his death, the Soviet-era legend and Russian national hero had sent his letter to the Church.
"My spiritual pain is unbearable," Kalashnikov asked. "I keep having the same unsolved question: if my rifle took away people's lives, then can it be that I... am guilty for people's deaths, even if they were enemies?"
According to AFP, the typed letter on Kalashnikov's personal writing paper, reproduced by Izvestia, is signed with a wavering hand by the man who described himself as "a slave of God, the designer Mikhail Kalashnikov."
After experiencing the Red Army's drastic lack of weapons during World War II, Kalashnikov came up with the design of the durable and simple rifle. Since its invention, the AK-47 has not only been manufactured and distributed unlicensed globally, but it has also been used by distinctively armed insurgent movements, including those that use child soldiers.
At the age of 91, Kalashnikov visited the church for the first time and was later baptized, AFP reported.
"The Lord showed me the way in the afternoon of my life," wrote the rifle inventor. "When at the age of 91, I cross the threshold of a church, my soul felt as if it had been there before."
The Patriarch's press secretary, Alexander Volkov, told Izvestia that the Russian Church leader received the letter and wrote a personal reply.
"The Church has a very definite position: when weapons serve to protect the Fatherland, the Church supports both its creators and the soldiers who use it," Volkov said. "He designed this rifle to defend his country, not so terrorists could use it in Saudi Arabia."
After the Soviet era, the Russian Orthodox Church has tried to consolidate its new-found strength by building up close ties with state agencies and powerful officials, AFP reported.
"Of course you can't say he went to services or lived strictly according to the commandments," his daughter, Yelena, told Izvestia. "You have to understand his generation."
Kalashnikov designed his famous rifles at the Izmash factory in the central city of Izhevsk and lived in the struggling region until his last days despite offers to come to Moscow, according to AFP. Cherished as a national icon, the 206-year-old plant remains one of the main producers of Russian weapons.
