On the evening of 25 December, after soldiers brought his coffin to the church, about 8,000 people came to say goodbye to legendary small-arms designer Lieutenant General Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov at St Michael Cathedral in Izhevsk (Udmurt Republic).
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The honour guard consisted of cadets from the Kazan Higher Military Command School (KVVKU).
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The coffin with Kalashnikov’s body was in the centre of the church, draped with the Russian national flag, and his decorations were at its foot.
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Services lasted until 22.00 MSK. Services continued on 26 December, the church funeral was from 10.00 to 13.00 MSK; after that, there was a secular ceremony.
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People crowded in to pay their last respects to the great man. Many waited in queue for four hours. Kalashnikov’s son Viktor Mikhailovich thanked everyone who came personally.
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Yelena Mikhailovna Kalashnikova, the daughter of the legendary small-arms designer (right) and his son Viktor Mikhailovich Kalashnikov say their farewells to their father at St Michael Cathedral in Izhevsk.
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Kalashnikov’s decorations were at the foot of the coffin.
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People came singly and in groups to bid farewell to the legendary designer, they laid down flowers and wreaths as tributes.
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Aleksandr Volkov (centre), Head of the Udmurt Republic, at the funeral services for Mikhail Kalashnikov at St Michael Cathedral in Izhevsk.
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The Moscow funeral of Mikhail Kalashnikov will be 27 December at the Federal Military Memorial Complex in Mytishchi Raion, in the Moscow Oblast suburbs. Kalashnikov’s coffin went by plane from Izhevsk to Moscow for burial on the evening of 26 December, his funeral procession passed in front of places where he lived and worked in Izhevsk.
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On Friday, the burial of legendary gunsmith Mikhail Kalashnikov took place at the Federal Military Memorial Complex in Mytishchi Raion, in the Moscow Oblast suburbs. The coffin was on a gun carriage as it went down the central alleyway of the complex.
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President Vladimir Putin sat with the Kalashnikov family at the services.
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The farewell in the main memorial hall.
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Deputy Defence Minister Army General Arkady Bakhin said at the funeral, “Today, we say goodbye to a remarkable man, a man who’s a symbol of Russia”.
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The farewell in the main memorial hall.
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The honour guard at the ceremony.
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Kalashnikov’s body lying in state in the memorial hall.
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Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu attended the ceremony.
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A military band played proper music in honour of Mikhail Timofeyevich’s memory.
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Kalashnikov’s daughter Yelena Mikhailovna said that her father devoted his life to working for the benefit of the motherland, “he couldn’t do otherwise”.
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On his last journey, volleys from his iconic AK-47 assault rifle accompanied the procession.
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Metropolitan Yuvenaly Poyarkov of Krutitsy and Kolomna (left) served the religious part of the funeral.
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Mikhail Kalashnikov was in intensive care since 17 November. Mikhail Timofeyevich died Monday 23 December 2013 in his 95th year.
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Note well that Metropolitan Yuvenaly Poyarkov served the Church end of the funeral in Moscow. Yuvenaly is second only to HH in the hierarchy at the Centre (he’s the effectual “Metropolitan of Moscow”). This shows you the stature of Mikhail Timofeyevich. The West mostly ignored his passing…
Note well that Viktor Mikhailovich thanked EVERYONE who came personally in Izhevsk… now, that’s CHRISTIAN. The well-known loudmouths here in America ought to hang their heads in shame. They have no clue about Christianity (and some of them are in the Church, sadly enough). President Putin didn’t come to the Izhevsk services… this allowed the Kalashnikov family to take centre-stage, as is right and proper. It doesn’t matter if you like President Putin or not, he’s a genuine and decent human being… unlike so many Western “leaders”.
This is the future… a creative and fruitful union of the Red and the Christian… may God grant me to see it in full flower.
For more on Kalashnikov’s death and the state memorials for him, click here
26-27 December 2013
RIA-Novosti
Voices from Russia 
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