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 had to gain experience as I did not have a technical education.

I sleep well. It's the politicians who are to blame for failing to come to an agreement and resorting to violence.

It is the Germans who are responsible for the fact that I became a fabricator of arms. If not for them, I would have constructed agricultural machines.

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.

It is painful for me to see when criminal elements of all kinds fire from my weapon.

I tried a dozen different modifications that were rejected. But they all served as a path to the final design.