January 25, 2008	Friday	Muharram 15, 1429

MOSCOW, Jan 24: Russia accused Nato on Thursday of turning a blind eye to factories in member states making Soviet-designed Kalashnikov rifles without proper licences and threatened to seek compensation.

Russians are proud of the Kalashnikov which has soared to iconic status since first rolling off production lines in central Russia in 1947.

Its robust and easy-to-use mechanism made it the weapon of choice for armies and guerilla forces around the world.

Now Russia’s new envoy to Nato, Dmitry Rogozin, has repeated

accusations that the Kalashnikov, or AK-47, is such a successful export that state-controlled firms in Moscow’s former Communist allies that are now Nato members are copying the design without proper licensing.

“We need to find out how much money the Russian Federation and the company that makes the original have lost,” Rogozin said during a news briefing in Moscow on Nato-Russia relations.

“If we find out that Russia needs to be compensated, then this subject will be discussed.”

Nato has invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to a summit in early April, an invitation that Rogozin said the Kremlin was still mulling over. He gave a list of factories in Nato countries that produce and export thousands of copies of the Kalashnikov to the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Young Red Army soldier Mikhail Kalashnikov designed the rifle while recovering from wounds sustained in World War Two.

His aim was to match the German-made automatic rifle and make it robust enough to survive the harsh Soviet winters. Soviet leader Josef Stalin decorated Kalashnikov for his invention.—Reuters