Kalashnikov launches new weapon - vodka

Mikhail Kalashnikov, 85, the Russian creator of the AK-47 assault rifle, launches his 'Kalashnikov Vodka' brand in London

LONDON (Reuters) - The creator of one of the world's most famous guns, the AK-47 assault rifle, has launched another weapon -- Kalashnikov vodka.


Lieutenant General Mikhail Kalashnikov, who invented the AK-47 after being shot by German soldiers during World War Two, said he wanted to continue "the good name" of his gun.


"I've always wanted to improve and expand on the good name of my weapon by doing good things," he told Reuters Television on Monday.


"So we decided to create a vodka under my name. And we wanted that vodka to be better than anything made, up until now, in both Russia and England."


The Kalashnikov rifle has become the weapon of choice for guerrillas and gangsters across the world. But Kalashnikov said his original intentions for the gun were purely patriotic.


"I did not create the gun for international conflicts, I created it to protect the borders of my country," he said.


"It is not my fault that it has been spread all over the world. It is its reliability and its simplicity that have taken it all over the world."


Promoters of Kalashnikov vodka, which is 82 percent proof, say it is "made from grain harvested in Russia and water drawn from Lake Ladoga north of St Petersburg" and is best drunk with friends.