AK-47 Creator to Be Flown to Moscow for Treatment

(AP) AK-47 creator to be flown to Moscow for treatment
MOSCOW
Russia’s Emergencies Ministry says it has sent a medically equipped aircraft to bring the 93-year-old creator of the AK-47 assault rifle to Moscow for treatment.

A spokeswoman for the ministry told Russian state news agencies that doctors will accompany Mikhail Kalashnikov on the flight to Moscow on Sunday from his home in Izhevsk, about 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) to the east of the capital.

Kalashnikov spent two weeks in an Izhevsk cardiology clinic in May.

The AK-47 is the world’s most popular firearm with an estimated 100 million spread worldwide. Its name stands for “Avtomat Kalashnikova,” or Kalashnikov’s automatic, and the year it went into production.

Kalashnikov continued working at least into his 80s as chief designer of Izhmash, the plant in Izhevsk that first built the AK-47.