The AK-47 is not a device of aggression ... I devised this machine-gun for the security of my country.
I'm proud of my invention, but I'm sad that it is used by terrorists.
I wanted to invent an engine that could run for ever. I could have developed a new train, had I stayed in the railway. It would have looked like the AK-47 though.
It is painful for me to see when criminal elements of all kinds fire from my weapon.
I sleep well. It's the politicians who are to blame for failing to come to an agreement and resorting to violence.
When I see Bin Laden with his AK-47, I got nervous. But what can I do, terrorists aren't fools: they too chose the most reliable guns.
The fact that people die because of an AK-47 is not because of the designer, but because of politics.
When a young man, I read somewhere the following: God the Almighty said, 'All that is too complex is unnecessary, and it is simple that is needed' ... So this has been my lifetime motto – I have been creating weapons to defend the borders of my fatherland, to be simple and reliable.
I created a weapon to defend the borders of my motherland. It's not my fault that it's being used where it shouldn't be. The politicians are more to blame for this.
I would prefer to have invented a machine that people could use and that would help farmers with their work - for example a lawnmower.