It did so without buying a single weapon from Russia, which, as creator of the underlying design that all automatic Kalashnikovs share, regards itself as the rightful owner of an informal but global brand. These transfers have alarmed and irritated Russian officials and arms merchants, and split the AK-47’s 60th birthday celebrations between parties and bitter pleas.
With events that began in early July and will continue into August, the Kremlin and its arms-export agency are feting both a family of weapons and the man credited with their creation, Mikhail T. Kalashnikov, who at 87 has proved to be as durable as the rifles that bear his name.
Even General Kalashnikov himself is venting his dismay over proliferation without Russian profit. "I take them into my hands and, my goodness, the marks are foreign," he said of the knockoffs the Soviet Union once championed. "Yes, they look alike. But as to reliability and durability - they do not meet the high standards of our military."
Without these controversies, the celebrations might have had a familiar feel. The AK-47 and its derivatives, first tested in the forests outside of Moscow six decades ago, have been common on battlefields and in Soviet and revolutionary iconography for two generations. General Kalashnikov long ago became a hero of the proletariat.
The photo below shows a Romanian AK-74 with a Russian 8x42 scope. This firearm belongs to Carlos, and is used with his permission. Carlos has since changed the front sight to an AK-74 sight, and installed a real AK-74 muzzle brake.
By the fall of the Soviet Union, their global saturation was complete. Soviet students practiced assembling and disassembling Kalashnikovs in the 10th grade. Soviet statues clutched them with muscular, thick-handed grips. Almost anyone who might fight the West or its partners had been eligible for automatic rifle shipments from the Communist bloc, or even a rifle or ammunition plant.
The testimonials this month have celebrated Russia’s version of this history. Depending on your point of view, these rifles have been either a revolutionary’s trusted partner or a lethal instrument of proxy war, terror and crime. The chosen speakers, hand-picked by Russian officials, have chosen the former line.
"On behalf of all my brethren who died in the anti-American war to liberate our country, we thank you for inventing this weapon," Senior Col. To Xuan Hue, the defense attaché from Vietnam, told Mr. Kalashnikov at one celebration.
Group Capt. Biltim Chingono, the defense attaché from Zimbabwe, also sidestepped the rifle’s checkered reputation, saying that in his country’s civil war it had proved "to be the mightier and decisive freedom pen."
In Russian circles, little praise is being spared. "The famous Kalashnikov assault rifle has become not only an example of daring innovative thought but also a symbol of the talent and creative genius of our people," President Vladimir V. Putin said in a decree.
At the same events, Russian officials and arms manufacturers are clamoring over who should be allowed to put Kalashnikov rifles on the market. Some arguments are based on quality, and Russia claims, without offering evidence, that the copies and clones are not as well made as the genuine article. There is some support for this on black markets in Iraq, where the Russian Kalashnikovs often fetch higher prices than their clones, although whether the rifles are better or simply more coveted is not clear. Other arguments are rooted in what the Russians claim is law, as the arms industry insists that the factories that the Kremlin once sponsored, and now are in sovereign, post-Soviet countries, have no right to manufacture or sell items of Soviet design.
"More than 30 foreign companies, private and state based, continue the illegal manufacturing and copying of small arms," said Sergey V. Chemezov, the former K.G.B. officer and confidant of Mr. Putin’s who directs Rosoboronexport, the state arms-marketing agency. "They undermine the reputation of the Kalashnikov."
So far, few customers have paid notice. The largest customer in the market, the United States, has purchased whatever weapons it sees fit, coloring the AK-47’s 60th birthday, like much of Kalashnikov history, with another angry struggle.
"We cannot tolerate the situation when only 10 percent of the Kalashnikovs are manufactured legally," said Sergey V. Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister. "We cannot stand for this. We must fight."
