Mikhail Kalashnikov, the 94-year-old creator of the AK-47 assault rifle, has been hospitalized in Izhevsk with undisclosed health problems, health officials said Monday.
The inventor, who worked as chief designer at a military plant at least into his 80s, has been in and out of the hospital several times this year. He was flown to a military hospital in Moscow in June, a month after being taken to a hospital in Izhevsk, about 1,000 kilometers east of the capital. He was released in August.
His health has recently taken a turn for the worse, however, and on Sunday he was again admitted to a hospital in Izhevsk, the city where he lives, the region's health department said in a statement, Interfax reported Monday.
President Vladimir Putin met with Kalashnikov during a visit to the Izhevsk military plant this fall, shortly before the inventor's 94th birthday in November. The Kremlin said in September that the inventor appeared to be in good health following a period of recuperation at a health retreat.
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