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137-505: The AK-74 ( Russian : Автомат Калашникова образца 1974 года , tr. Avtomat Kalashnikova obraztsa 1974 goda , lit. 'Kalashnikov assault rifle model 1974') is an assault rifle designed by small arms designer Mikhail Kalashnikov in 1974 as a successor to the AKM . While primarily associated with the Soviet Union , it has been used by many countries since the 1970s. It is chambered for

274-649: A constitutional referendum on whether to adopt Russian as a second official language. According to the Central Election Commission, 74.8% voted against, 24.9% voted for and the voter turnout was 71.1%. Starting in 2019, instruction in Russian will be gradually discontinued in private colleges and universities in Latvia, and in general instruction in Latvian public high schools. On 29 September 2022, Saeima passed in

411-510: A new education law which requires all schools to teach at least partially in Ukrainian, with provisions while allow indigenous languages and languages of national minorities to be used alongside the national language. The law faced criticism from officials in Russia and Hungary. The 2019 Law of Ukraine "On protecting the functioning of the Ukrainian language as the state language" gives priority to

548-478: A "running"-type silhouette target was reduced from 625 m (684 yd) to 360 m (394 yd)). The AKS-74U cannot mount a bayonet or standard under-barrel grenade launcher. However, a suppressed 30 mm BS-1 grenade launcher was developed specifically for that platform that fires a high-explosive dual purpose (HEDP) grenade. The grenades for the BS-1 are launched by special blank cartridges that are inserted into

685-578: A 30-round AK-74 box magazine is 230 g (8.1 oz). The 45-round plastic box magazine of the RPK-74 light machine gun is also interchangeable with that of the AK-74. The empty weight of a 45-round RPK-74 box magazine is 300 g (11 oz). Further 60-round and later 50-round quad-stack 5.45×39mm casket magazines were developed. The transition to mainly plastic magazines and the relatively small sized, light weight, high velocity 5.45×39mm cartridge yielded

822-435: A 350 m (383 yd) "point-blank range" battle zero setting and "4-5" (used for firing at distances between 400–500 m (437–547 yd)). The rear sight is housed in a semi-shrouded protective enclosure that is riveted to the receiver's spring-loaded top cover. This top cover hinges from a barrel trunnion (hinging where the rear sight on a normal AK74 is located), pivoting forward when opened, which also works to unlock

959-405: A 400 m (437 yd) zero, compared with the 300 m (328 yd) zero for 7.62×39mm AKs. For the AK-74 combined with the 7N6 or 7N10 service cartridges the 400 m battle zero setting point-blank range limits the apparent "bullet rise" within approximately −5 to +38 cm (−2.0 to 15.0 in) under the line of sight. At the corresponding 440 m (481 yd) maximum point-blank range

1096-434: A cam guide machined into the underside of the bolt carrier along with an ejector spur on the bolt carrier rail guide, rotates the bolt approximately 35° and unlocks it from the barrel extension via a camming pin on the bolt. The moving assembly has about 5.5 mm (0.2 in) of free travel which creates a delay between the initial recoil impulse of the piston and the bolt unlocking sequence, allowing gas pressures to drop to

1233-433: A formula with V standing for the nucleus (vowel) and C for each consonant, the maximal structure can be described as follows: (C)(C)(C)(C)V(C)(C)(C)(C) Muzzle climb The primary reason for muzzle rise is that for nearly all guns, the bore axis (longitudinal centerline of the barrel) is above the gun's center of mass , while the contact points between the shooter and the gun (e.g. grips and stock) are often all below

1370-419: A fully automatic carbine . Soviet planners drew from the unsolicited design AO-46 built in 1969 by Peter Andreevich Tkachev , which weighed only 1.9 kg. The TTT specifications required a weight no greater than 2.2 kg (4.9 lb), a length of 75 cm (29.5 in)/45 cm (17.7 in) with the stock unfolded/folded, and an effective firing range of 500 m (547 yd). The competition

1507-479: A language that "belongs to the European cultural space". The financing of Russian-language content by the state will cease, which the concept says create a "unified information space". However, one inevitable consequence would be the closure of public media broadcasts in Russian on LTV and Latvian Radio, as well as the closure of LSM's Russian-language service. In Lithuania , Russian has no official or legal status, but

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1644-467: A lens cleaning cloth, combination tool, two rubber eyecups, two eyecup clamps and three different bullet drop compensation (BDC) cams for the AK-74/ AN-94 , RPK-74 and PK machine gun . The 1P29 is intended for quickly engaging point and area targets at various ranges and is zeroed for both windage and elevation at 400 m (437 yd). On the right side of the field of view a stadiametric rangefinder

1781-572: A lesser extent the languages to the south and the east: Uralic , Turkic , Persian , Arabic , and Hebrew . According to the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California , Russian is classified as a level III language in terms of learning difficulty for native English speakers, requiring approximately 1,100 hours of immersion instruction to achieve intermediate fluency. Feudal divisions and conflicts created obstacles between

1918-460: A machine cut beneath to allow easier cleaning rod removal, a reinforced smooth dust cover and a redesigned guide rod return spring retainer that allows firing the GP-25, GP-30 and GP-34 underslung grenade launchers without having to use the previously necessary additional receiver cover fastener. To reduce production costs, barrel hardware, such as the front sight base and gas block, are dimple pressed on to

2055-607: A minority language under the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities . 30% of the population was fluent in Russian in 2006, and 2% used it as the main language with family, friends, or at work. In Azerbaijan , Russian has no official status, but is a lingua franca of the country. 26% of the population was fluent in Russian in 2006, and 5% used it as the main language with family, friends, or at work. In Georgia , Russian has no official status, but it

2192-460: A new buttstock, handguard (which retained the AKM -type finger swells) and gas cylinder. The stock has a shoulder pad different from that on the AKM, which is rubber and serrated for improved seating against the shooter. In addition, there are lightening cuts on each side of the buttstock. The buttstock, lower handguard and upper heatguard were first manufactured from laminated wood , this later changed to

2329-640: A new spear point and an improved one-piece molded plastic grip making it a more effective fighting knife. It also has saw-teeth on the false edge and the usual hole for use as a wire-cutter. Relatively small sized, light weight, high velocity military service cartridges like the 5.45×39mm allow a soldier to carry more ammunition for the same weight compared with their larger and heavier predecessor cartridges, have favourable maximum point-blank range or "battle zero" characteristics and produce relatively low bolt thrust and free recoil impulse, favouring light weight arms design and automatic fire accuracy. Tests measured

2466-516: A qualitatively new entity can be said to emerge—the general language of the working class... capitalism has the tendency of creating the general urban language of a given society. In 2010, there were 259.8 million speakers of Russian in the world: in Russia – 137.5 million, in the CIS and Baltic countries – 93.7 million, in Eastern Europe – 12.9 million, Western Europe – 7.3 million, Asia – 2.7 million, in

2603-530: A safe level before the seal between the chamber and the bolt is broken. Like previous Kalashnikov-pattern rifles, the AK-74 does not have a gas valve; excess gases are ventilated through a series of radial ports in the gas cylinder. Since the Kalashnikov operating system offers no primary extraction upon bolt rotation, the 5.45×39mm AK-74 bolt has a larger extractor claw than the 7.62×39mm AKM for increased extraction reliability. Other minor modifications were made to

2740-454: A significant weight reduction and allows a soldier to carry considerably more rounds for the same weight compared with the previous Soviet AK-47 and AKM and later 7.62×39mm chambered AK platform assault rifles. Note: All, 7.62×39mm AK magazines are backwards compatible with older AK variants. Note *: 10.12 kg (22.3 lb) is the maximum amount of ammo that the average soldier can comfortably carry. It also allows for best comparison of

2877-425: A synthetic fiberglass -reinforced polyamide 6 colored with "kaprozol brown 4K" disperse dye, the color of which is usually referred to as "Russian Plum ". The introduction of the new material was slow and impeded by very stringent hardness requirements of the military which no Western polymer furniture was able to satisfy as of 1980. The AK-74 gas tube has a spring washer attached to its rear end designed to retain

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3014-516: A version featuring modernized synthetic furniture made from a black, glass-filled polyamide . The AKS-74U was also used as the basis for several other unique weapons, including the bullpup OTs-14 Groza specialist carbine which is now in limited service in the Russian military, and the Gepard series of multi-caliber submachine guns (none of which evolved past prototype stage). In the United States,

3151-527: Is Belarusian, among ethnic Belarusians this share is 28.5%; the highest share of those who speak Belarusian at home is among ethnic Poles — 46.0%. In Estonia , Russian is spoken by 29.6% of the population, according to a 2011 estimate from the World Factbook, and is officially considered a foreign language. School education in the Russian language is a very contentious point in Estonian politics, and in 2022,

3288-475: Is a co-official language per article 5 of the Constitution of Kyrgyzstan . The 2009 census states that 482,200 people speak Russian as a native language, or 8.99% of the population. Additionally, 1,854,700 residents of Kyrgyzstan aged 15 and above fluently speak Russian as a second language, or 49.6% of the population in the age group. In Tajikistan , Russian is the language of inter-ethnic communication under

3425-401: Is a high degree of mutual intelligibility between Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian , and a moderate degree of it in all modern Slavic languages, at least at the conversational level. Russian is written using a Cyrillic alphabet. The Russian alphabet consists of 33 letters. The following table gives their forms, along with IPA values for each letter's typical sound: Older letters of

3562-455: Is a post adjustable for elevation in the field. Horizontal adjustment requires a special drift tool and is done by the armoury before issue or if the need arises by an armourer after issue. The sight line elements are approximately 48.5  mm (1.9  in ) over the bore axis. The " point-blank range " battle zero setting " П " standing for постоянная (constant/consistent/permanent) the 5.45×39mm AK-74 rear tangent sight element corresponds to

3699-593: Is a post-posed definite article -to , -ta , -te similar to that existing in Bulgarian and Macedonian. In the Southern Russian dialects , instances of unstressed /e/ and /a/ following palatalized consonants and preceding a stressed syllable are not reduced to [ɪ] (as occurs in the Moscow dialect), being instead pronounced [a] in such positions (e.g. несл и is pronounced [nʲaˈslʲi] , not [nʲɪsˈlʲi] ) – this

3836-584: Is a significant change to the Kalashnikov operating system of the 1940s. The operating system of these new rifles was derived from the AL-7 experimental rifle of the early 1970s. Since their development, these rifles met little commercial success. The AK-100M/AK-200 rifle family was initially conceived around 2009 as an improved variant of the basic AK-100 series. Most improvements centered on ergonomic improvements and mounting systems for accessories. The development of

3973-485: Is being used less frequently by Russian-speaking typists in favor of the extension of Unicode character encoding , which fully incorporates the Russian alphabet. Free programs are available offering this Unicode extension, which allow users to type Russian characters, even on Western 'QWERTY' keyboards. The Russian language was first introduced to computing after the M-1 , and MESM models were produced in 1951. According to

4110-613: Is called yakanye ( яканье ). Consonants include a fricative /ɣ/ , a semivowel /w⁓u̯/ and /x⁓xv⁓xw/ , whereas the Standard and Northern dialects have the consonants /ɡ/ , /v/ , and final /l/ and /f/ , respectively. The morphology features a palatalized final /tʲ/ in 3rd person forms of verbs (this is unpalatalized in the Standard and Northern dialects). During the Proto-Slavic (Common Slavic) times all Slavs spoke one mutually intelligible language or group of dialects. There

4247-413: Is incorporated that can be used to determine the distance for a soldier sized target from 400 to 700 m (437 to 766 yd). The reticle consist of a main 400 m "chevron" (^), a 500 m (547 yd) holdover dot and smaller additional holdover chevrons for 600 m (656 yd) and 700 m (766 yd) and is tritium -illuminated for low-light condition aiming. The AK-74 was equipped with

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4384-485: Is incorporated that can be used to determine the distance from a 1.5 meters (4 ft 11.1 in) tall object from 400 to 1,200 m (437 to 1,312 yd). The reticle is an inverted aiming post in the top half of the field of view and is tritium -illuminated for low-light condition aiming. The current Russian standard side rail mounted optical sight for the AK-74M is the 2.8×17 1P78 Kashtan , an aiming optic similar to

4521-418: Is installed by slipping the muzzle ring around the flash hider and latching the handle down on the bayonet lug under the front sight base. The 6H5 AK-74 bayonet introduced in 1983 represents a further refinement of the 6H4 AKM bayonet. It introduced a radical blade cross-section, that has a flat milled on one side near the edge and a corresponding flat milled on the opposite side near the false edge. The blade has

4658-563: Is more spoken than English. Sizable Russian-speaking communities also exist in North America, especially in large urban centers of the US and Canada, such as New York City , Philadelphia , Boston , Los Angeles , Nashville , San Francisco , Seattle , Spokane , Toronto , Calgary , Baltimore , Miami , Portland , Chicago , Denver , and Cleveland . In a number of locations they issue their own newspapers, and live in ethnic enclaves (especially

4795-564: Is odd") – чу́дно ( chúdno – "this is marvellous"), молоде́ц ( molodéts – "well done!") – мо́лодец ( mólodets – "fine young man"), узна́ю ( uznáyu – "I shall learn it") – узнаю́ ( uznayú – "I recognize it"), отреза́ть ( otrezát – "to be cutting") – отре́зать ( otrézat – "to have cut"); to indicate the proper pronunciation of uncommon words, especially personal and family names, like афе́ра ( aféra , "scandal, affair"), гу́ру ( gúru , "guru"), Гарси́я ( García ), Оле́ша ( Olésha ), Фе́рми ( Fermi ), and to show which

4932-402: Is recognized as a minority language under the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities . Russian is the language of 9% of the population according to the World Factbook. Ethnologue cites Russian as the country's de facto working language. In China , Russian has no official status, but it is spoken by the small Russian communities in the northeastern Heilongjiang and

5069-471: Is similar to the second generation, but is darker colored and has a matte nonreflective surface finish. With the introduction of the AK-74M the fourth generation of steel-reinforced matte true black nonreflective surface finished 30-round AK-74 magazines was introduced. All AK-74 magazines have a raised horizontal rib on each side of the rear lug to prevent their use in a 7.62×39mm AK. The magazines can be quickly recharged from stripper clips . The empty weight of

5206-569: Is sometimes considered to have played a significant role in the formation of modern Russian. Also, Russian has notable lexical similarities with Bulgarian due to a common Church Slavonic influence on both languages, but because of later interaction in the 19th and 20th centuries, Bulgarian grammar differs markedly from Russian. Over the course of centuries, the vocabulary and literary style of Russian have also been influenced by Western and Central European languages such as Greek, Latin , Polish , Dutch , German, French, Italian, and English, and to

5343-576: Is spoken by 14.2% of the population according to an undated estimate from the World Factbook. In 2005, Russian was the most widely taught foreign language in Mongolia, and was compulsory in Year 7 onward as a second foreign language in 2006. Around 1.5 million Israelis spoke Russian as of 2017. The Israeli press and websites regularly publish material in Russian and there are Russian newspapers, television stations, schools, and social media outlets based in

5480-518: Is the stressed word in a sentence, for example Ты́ съел печенье? ( Tý syel pechenye? – "Was it you who ate the cookie?") – Ты съе́л печенье? ( Ty syél pechenye? – "Did you eat the cookie?) – Ты съел пече́нье? ( Ty syel pechénye? "Was it the cookie you ate?"). Stress marks are mandatory in lexical dictionaries and books for children or Russian learners. The Russian syllable structure can be quite complex, with both initial and final consonant clusters of up to four consecutive sounds. Using

5617-415: The 1P78 Kashtan dedicated side rail mounted optical sights were developed. These optical sights are primarily designed for rapid target acquisition and first round hits out to 400 m, but by various means these optical sights also offer bullet drop compensation (BDC) (sometimes referred to as ballistic elevation ) for aiming at more distant targets. The BDC feature compensates for the effect of gravity on

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5754-461: The 2011 Lithuanian census , Russian was the native language for 7.2% of the population. In Moldova , Russian was considered to be the language of interethnic communication under a Soviet-era law. On 21 January 2021, the Constitutional Court of Moldova declared the law unconstitutional and deprived Russian of the status of the language of interethnic communication. 50% of the population

5891-658: The 5.45×39mm cartridge, which replaced the 7.62×39mm cartridge of Kalashnikov's earlier automatic weapons for the Soviet Armed Forces . The rifle first saw service with Soviet forces in the Soviet–Afghan War from 1979. The head of the Afghan bureau of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the intelligence agency of Pakistan , claimed that America's Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) paid $ 5,000 for

6028-460: The 7.62×39mm AKM assault rifle and features several important design improvements. These improvements were primarily the result of converting the rifle to the intermediate-calibre high velocity 5.45×39mm cartridge. In fact, some early models are reported to have been converted AKMs, re-barreled to 5.45×39mm. Compared with the preceding AKM, the AK-74 has better effective firing range, accuracy (a main development goal), and reliability. About 50% of

6165-642: The AK-12 series of proposed prototype models were unveiled. They differed in weight, introduced a new recoil compensation technology and improved ergonomics. The rear iron sight element was rail-mounted and moved to the back of the upper receiver to lengthen the sight line, and the full length of the weapon featured a Picatinny rail for mounting accessories such as aiming optics on top. The hand guard features Picatinny rails on both sides and its underside for mounting accessories like tactical lights, laser sights and grenade launchers. Throughout its development and evaluation stage

6302-966: The Apollo–Soyuz mission, which first flew in 1975. In March 2013, Russian was found to be the second-most used language on websites after English. Russian was the language of 5.9% of all websites, slightly ahead of German and far behind English (54.7%). Russian was used not only on 89.8% of .ru sites, but also on 88.7% of sites with the former Soviet Union domain .su . Websites in former Soviet Union member states also used high levels of Russian: 79.0% in Ukraine, 86.9% in Belarus, 84.0% in Kazakhstan, 79.6% in Uzbekistan, 75.9% in Kyrgyzstan and 81.8% in Tajikistan. However, Russian

6439-413: The Constitution of Tajikistan and is permitted in official documentation. 28% of the population was fluent in Russian in 2006, and 7% used it as the main language with family, friends or at work. The World Factbook notes that Russian is widely used in government and business. In Turkmenistan , Russian lost its status as the official lingua franca in 1996. Among 12% of the population who grew up in

6576-555: The Internet . Russian is written using the Russian alphabet of the Cyrillic script ; it distinguishes between consonant phonemes with palatal secondary articulation and those without—the so-called "soft" and "hard" sounds. Almost every consonant has a hard or soft counterpart, and the distinction is a prominent feature of the language, which is usually shown in writing not by a change of

6713-664: The Russian Federation , Belarus , Kazakhstan , Kyrgyzstan , and Tajikistan , and is still commonly used as a lingua franca in Ukraine , Moldova , the Caucasus , Central Asia , and to a lesser extent in the Baltic states and Israel . Russian has over 258 million total speakers worldwide. It is the most spoken native language in Europe , the most spoken Slavic language , as well as

6850-478: The Russian Federation . An AK-74M universal upgrade kit consisting of a new safety, dust cover and furniture featuring improved ergonomics and rails to attach accessories like aiming optics, optoelectronic sights, laser sights, weapon lights and vertical fore grips and a new muzzle device had its official debut on 9 May 2015 in Moscow as part of the 2015 Moscow Victory Day Parade . The Kalashnikov Concern has further developed three sets of additional equipment for

6987-575: The Ukrainian language in more than 30 spheres of public life: in particular in public administration , media, education, science, culture, advertising, services . The law does not regulate private communication. A poll conducted in March 2022 by RATING in the territory controlled by Ukraine found that 83% of the respondents believe that Ukrainian should be the only state language of Ukraine. This opinion dominates in all macro-regions, age and language groups. On

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7124-638: The United States Census , in 2007 Russian was the primary language spoken in the homes of over 850,000 individuals living in the United States. Russian is one of the official languages (or has similar status and interpretation must be provided into Russian) of the following: The Russian language is also one of two official languages aboard the International Space Station – NASA astronauts who serve alongside Russian cosmonauts usually take Russian language courses. This practice goes back to

7261-669: The bullet at given distances (referred to as " bullet drop ") in flat fire scenarios. The feature must be tuned for the particular ballistic trajectory of a particular combination of gun and cartridge at a predefined muzzle velocity and air density . Since the usage of standardized ammunition is an important prerequisite to match the BDC feature to the external ballistic behaviour of the employed projectiles, these military optical sights are intended to assist with field shooting at varying medium to longer ranges rather than precise long range shots. The standard Russian side rail mounted optical sight

7398-508: The 20th century, Russian was a mandatory language taught in the schools of the members of the old Warsaw Pact and in other countries that used to be satellites of the USSR. According to the Eurobarometer 2005 survey, fluency in Russian remains fairly high (20–40%) in some countries, in particular former Warsaw Pact countries. In Armenia , Russian has no official status, but it is recognized as

7535-541: The AK-12 include Picatinny rails , a new pistol grip, a new adjustable buttstock and a new flash hider. They feed from 30-round magazines, and are compatible with drum magazines from the RPK and RPK-74. After 2017 these arms were assigned AK-200 series designations. As of 2018, the AK-200 series rifles are offered for export sales and for domestic law enforcement users in Russia. In 2010,

7672-507: The AK-200 family was stopped around 2011, but resumed around 2016. In 2017, Kalashnikov unveiled the modernised versions of the AK-100 family of rifles. The AK-200 series are based on the AK-100 series and the AK-12 . They can be chambered in 5.45×39mm , 5.56×45mm NATO and 7.62×39mm , and use a barrel and gas system assembly similar to that of the AK-74M /AK-100 rifle family. Improvements added from

7809-519: The AKS-74 stock is fabricated from stamped sheet metal struts, machine pressed into a "U" shape and assembled by punch fit and welding. The stock has a triangular shape; it lacks the folding shoulder pad found on the AKMS stock and is folded to the left side of the receiver. The hinged stock is securely locked in its extended position by a spring-loaded button catch located at the rear of the receiver. When folded,

7946-624: The AKS-74U is sometimes called a "Krinkov". The origin of this term is uncertain. A hypothesis was circulating that the name came from the Mujahideen who supposedly had captured a high-ranking Soviet officer armed with an AKS-74U, and that they had named it after him. However, investigation by Patrick Sweeney could not confirm this hypothesis, for no Soviet officer with a resembling name was captured in Afghanistan. US journalist C. J. Chivers reported that

8083-547: The American ACOG . When mounted the 1P78 sight is positioned centered above the receiver. It weighs 0.5 kg, offers 2.8× magnification with a field of view of 13° and 32 mm eye relief. The 1P78 comes in several versions for the AK-74 (1P78-1), RPK-74 (1P78-2), AKM (1P78) and RPK (1P78-3). The 1P78 is intended for quickly engaging point and area targets at various ranges and is zeroed for both windage and elevation at 400 m (437 yd). A stadiametric rangefinder

8220-465: The Belarusian society the Russian language prevails, so according to the 2019 census 6,718,557 people (71.4% of the total population) stated that they speak Russian at home, for ethnic Belarusians this share is 61.4%, for Russians — 97.2%, for Ukrainians — 89.0%, for Poles — 52.4%, and for Jews — 96.6%; 2,447,764 people (26.0% of the total population) stated that the language they usually speak at home

8357-519: The Great and developed from the Moscow ( Middle or Central Russian ) dialect substratum under the influence of some of the previous century's Russian chancery language. Prior to the Bolshevik Revolution , the spoken form of the Russian language was that of the nobility and the urban bourgeoisie. Russian peasants, the great majority of the population, continued to speak in their own dialects. However,

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8494-578: The Institute of Russian Language of the Russian Academy of Sciences, an optional acute accent ( знак ударения ) may, and sometimes should, be used to mark stress . For example, it is used to distinguish between otherwise identical words, especially when context does not make it obvious: замо́к ( zamók – "lock") – за́мок ( zámok – "castle"), сто́ящий ( stóyashchy – "worthwhile") – стоя́щий ( stoyáshchy – "standing"), чудно́ ( chudnó – "this

8631-521: The Izhmash factory in the city of Izhevsk began full-scale production of a modernised variant of the AK-74—the AK-74M ("М"—Russian: Модернизи́рованный , romanized : Modernizírovanny , lit. 'modernised') assault rifle that offers more versatility compared with its predecessor. Apart from several minor improvements, such as a lightened bolt and carrier assembly to reduce the impulse of

8768-515: The Middle East and North Africa – 1.3 million, Sub-Saharan Africa – 0.1 million, Latin America – 0.2 million, U.S., Canada , Australia, and New Zealand – 4.1 million speakers. Therefore, the Russian language is the seventh-largest in the world by the number of speakers , after English, Mandarin, Hindi -Urdu, Spanish, French, Arabic, and Portuguese. Russian is one of the six official languages of

8905-508: The RPK-16 light machine gun and the AM-17 compact assault rifle (both chambered in 5.45×39mm). The AK-12, AK-15 and RPK-16 technically strongly resembles the AK-74M, AK-100 series and RPK-74M than the earlier prototypes and the arms manufacturer Kalashnikov concern hopes they will replace these Russian service guns. In late 2016 it was reported the AK-12 production model was undergoing troop trials with

9042-689: The Russian Army, where it competes against the Degtyarov A-545 balanced action assault rifle in Ratnik program trials. The AK-12 completed its operational testing and passed military field tests in June 2017, paving the way to Russian Army adoption, potentially under the Ratnik program . Both AK-12 and AK-15 completed testing in December 2017. In January 2018 it was announced that the AK-12 and AK-15 have been adopted by

9179-807: The Russian alphabet include ⟨ ѣ ⟩ , which merged to ⟨ е ⟩ ( /je/ or /ʲe/ ); ⟨ і ⟩ and ⟨ ѵ ⟩ , which both merged to ⟨ и ⟩ ( /i/ ); ⟨ ѳ ⟩ , which merged to ⟨ ф ⟩ ( /f/ ); ⟨ ѫ ⟩ , which merged to ⟨ у ⟩ ( /u/ ); ⟨ ѭ ⟩ , which merged to ⟨ ю ⟩ ( /ju/ or /ʲu/ ); and ⟨ ѧ ⟩ and ⟨ ѩ ⟩ , which later were graphically reshaped into ⟨ я ⟩ and merged phonetically to /ja/ or /ʲa/ . While these older letters have been abandoned at one time or another, they may be used in this and related articles. The yers ⟨ ъ ⟩ and ⟨ ь ⟩ originally indicated

9316-562: The Russian military. Russian language Russian is an East Slavic language belonging to the Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European language family . It is one of the four extant East Slavic languages, and is the native language of the Russians . It was the de facto and de jure official language of the former Soviet Union . Russian has remained an official language of

9453-458: The Russian principalities before and especially during Mongol rule. This strengthened dialectal differences, and for a while, prevented the emergence of a standardized national language. The formation of the unified and centralized Russian state in the 15th and 16th centuries, and the gradual re-emergence of a common political, economic, and cultural space created the need for a common standard language. The initial impulse for standardization came from

9590-454: The Soviet era can speak Russian, other generations of citizens that do not have any knowledge of Russian. Primary and secondary education by Russian is almost non-existent. In Uzbekistan , Russian is the language of inter-ethnic communication. It has some official roles, being permitted in official documentation and is the lingua franca of the country and the language of the elite. Russian

9727-460: The United Nations. Education in Russian is still a popular choice for both Russian as a second language (RSL) and native speakers in Russia, and in many former Soviet republics. Russian is still seen as an important language for children to learn in most of the former Soviet republics. In Belarus , Russian is a second state language alongside Belarusian per the Constitution of Belarus . 77% of

9864-401: The barrel instead of pinned on (commercial semi-auto variants are still pinned on to maintain user serviceability). Other economic changes include omission of lightening cuts on the front sight block and gas piston as well as a stamped gas tube release lever, replacing the milled one. The bullet guide and bolt guide were also separated, with the bolt guide becoming a simple bump held in place on

10001-502: The barrel. The front sight was integrated into the gas block/forward sling loop. The sight height above the bore axis is also approximately 3 mm (0.1 in) higher than the AK-74, due to the combined front sight/gas block, rear sight configuration. The AKS-74U has a different rear sight composed of a U-shaped flip sight on the top cover instead of the standard sliding notch tangent rear sight. This rear sight has two settings: " П " standing for постоянная (constant) corresponding to

10138-415: The bolt and carrier assembly. The rifle received a new barrel with a chrome-lined bore and 4 right-hand grooves at a 200 mm (1:7.87 in) or 37 calibers rifling twist rate . The front sight base and gas block were redesigned. The gas block contains a gas channel that is installed at a 90° angle in relation to the bore axis to reduce bullet shear at the port hole. A pair of support brackets are cast into

10275-498: The bolt carrier travels are stamped and spot welded to the inside of the receiver housing. Minor changes were made to the front barrel and rear stock trunnions as well as the magazine well. All external metal surfaces are coated with a glossy black enamel paint. Accessories supplied with the military version of the rifle include a 6H4 or 6H5 type bayonet , a quick-loading device, three spare magazines, four 15-round stripper clips , maintenance kit, cleaning rod and sling. The bayonet

10412-403: The broader sense of expanding the use of Russian alongside or in favour of other languages. The current standard form of Russian is generally regarded as the modern Russian literary language ( современный русский литературный язык – "sovremenny russky literaturny yazyk"). It arose at the beginning of the 18th century with the modernization reforms of the Russian state under the rule of Peter

10549-407: The bullet will have dropped to approximately −21 cm (−8.3 in) relative to the line of sight. Soldiers are instructed to fire at any target within this range by simply placing the sights on the center of mass (the belt buckle, according to Russian and former Soviet doctrine) of the enemy target. Any errors in range estimation are tactically irrelevant, as a well-aimed shot will hit the torso of

10686-576: The center of mass. When the gun is fired, the bullet motion and the escaping propellant gases exert a reactional recoil directly backwards along the bore axis, while the countering forward push from the shooter's hands and body are well below it. This creates a rotational couple , exerting a torque around the center of mass that causes the gun to pitch upwards, causing the muzzle to elevate. Muzzle rise can be reduced, though generally only through trading off other qualities. Methods include A number of firearms have been designed specifically to address

10823-417: The consonant but rather by changing the following vowel. Another important aspect is the reduction of unstressed vowels . Stress , which is often unpredictable, is not normally indicated orthographically , though an optional acute accent may be used to mark stress – such as to distinguish between homographic words (e.g. замо́к [ zamók , 'lock'] and за́мок [ zámok , 'castle']), or to indicate

10960-562: The country. There is an Israeli TV channel mainly broadcasting in Russian with Israel Plus . See also Russian language in Israel . Russian is also spoken as a second language by a small number of people in Afghanistan . In Vietnam , Russian has been added in the elementary curriculum along with Chinese and Japanese and were named as "first foreign languages" for Vietnamese students to learn, on equal footing with English. The Russian language

11097-454: The differences in the above table all of these firearms are made to similar specifications. These original AK-100 series firearms were introduced in 1994 and are categorized by all having black polymer handguards , folding polymer stocks , and use of AK-74M internal systems. Parts are highly interchangeable. The AK-101, AK-102, AK-103 and AK-104 are destined primarily for export, while the AK-105

11234-551: The end of the brake produces a forward thrust when emerging exhaust gases strike its surface, greatly reducing recoil. The muzzle brake prevents backblast from reaching the firer, although it is reported to be harsh on bystanders as the muzzle gases are dispersed to the sides. The standard-issue AK-74 muzzle brake has been subtly revised several times since the 1970s. The AK-74 uses an adjustable notched rear tangent iron sight calibrated in 100 m (109 yd) increments from 100 to 1,000 m (109 to 1,094 yd). The front sight

11371-465: The enemy soldier. While most Russian and CIS armed forces use the AK-74 in its basic configuration with iron sights, many magnified and non-magnified optical sights are available for designated marksmen and other special purpose troops in their respective militaries. For the 5.45×39mm AK-74, the East German Zeiss ZFK 4×25 , USP-1 (1P29) , Belorussian BelOMO PO 3.5×21P , PO 4×24P and

11508-406: The extremely short barrel and conical end of the booster, the muzzle blast is nevertheless extremely large and visible. The muzzle device locks into the gas block with a spring-loaded detent pin and features two parallel notches cut into the edge of the flash hider cone, used for unscrewing it using the cleaning rod. Unlike most Kalashnikov variants there is no provision to store the cleaning rod under

11645-413: The factory and the industrial plant their local peasant dialects with their phonetics, grammar, and vocabulary, and the very process of recruiting workers from peasants and the mobility of the worker population generate another process: the liquidation of peasant inheritance by way of leveling the particulars of local dialects. On the ruins of peasant multilingual, in the context of developing heavy industry,

11782-451: The final reading amendments that state that all schools and kindergartens in the country are to transition to education in Latvian . From 2025, all children will be taught in Latvian only. On 28 September 2023, Latvian deputies approved The National Security Concept, according to which from 1 January 2026, all content created by Latvian public media (including LSM ) should be only in Latvian or

11919-514: The first AK-74 captured by the Afghan mujahideen during the war. As of 2021, most countries of the former Soviet Union use the rifle. Licensed copies were produced in Bulgaria (AK-74, AKS-74 and AKS-74U), and in the former East Germany (MPi-AK-74N, MPi-AKS-74N, MPi-AKS-74NK). The AK-74 was designed by А. D. Kryakushin's group under the design supervision of Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is an adaptation of

12056-406: The free recoil energy delivered by the 5.45×39mm AK-74 rifle at 3.39 J (2.50 ft⋅lb), compared with 7.19 J (5.30 ft⋅lb) delivered by the 7.62×39mm in the AKM. Early 5.45×39mm ballistics tests demonstrated a pronounced tumbling effect with high speed cameras. Some Western authorities believed this bullet was designed to tumble in flesh to increase wounding potential. At the time, it

12193-417: The front sight base for both easier and more economic replacement in case of thread damage. The distinctive standard-issue muzzle brake features a large expansion chamber, two symmetrical vertical cuts at the forward end of the brake and three non symmetrical positioned vent holes to counteract muzzle rise and climb as well as lateral shift to the right much like the AKM's offset muzzle brake. A flat plate near

12330-469: The gas block assembly and are used to attach a BG-15c or GP-25 underslung 40 mm grenade launcher . Like the AK-47 and AKM, the muzzle is threaded for the installation of various muzzle devices such as the standard muzzle brake or a blank-firing adaptor , while a spring-loaded detent pin held in the front sight post prevents them from unscrewing while firing. However the muzzle threads have been relocated to

12467-492: The gas piston and bolt carrier during firing, the rifle features a new glass-filled polyamide stock that retains the shape of the original AK-74 fixed laminated wood stock, but side-folds to the left like the skeletonised AKS-74 buttstock. As a result, pistol grip reinforcement plates that were once exclusively used on the folding stock variants are standard on all AK-74Ms. Additionally the AK-74M features an improved muzzle device with extended collar and threads to reduce play and

12604-498: The gas tube cover. Both the gas tube and handguard are also of a new type and are wider and shorter than the analogous parts in the AKS-74. For the AKS-74s combined with the 7N6 or 7N10 service cartridges the 350 m battle zero setting limits the apparent "bullet rise" within approximately −5 to +42 cm (−2.0 to 16.5 in) relative to the line of sight. Soldiers are instructed to fire at any target within this range by simply placing

12741-408: The gas tube more securely. The lower handguard is fitted with a leaf spring that reduces play in the rifle's lateral axis by keeping the wood tensioned between the receiver and the handguard retainer. The receiver remains nearly identical to that of the AKM; it is a U-shaped 1 mm (0.04 in) thick sheet steel pressing supported extensively by pins and rivets. The internal guide rails on which

12878-672: The generation of immigrants who started arriving in the early 1960s). Only about 25% of them are ethnic Russians, however. Before the dissolution of the Soviet Union , the overwhelming majority of Russophones in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn in New York City were Russian-speaking Jews. Afterward, the influx from the countries of the former Soviet Union changed the statistics somewhat, with ethnic Russians and Ukrainians immigrating along with some more Russian Jews and Central Asians. According to

13015-480: The government bureaucracy for the lack of a reliable tool of communication in administrative, legal, and judicial affairs became an obvious practical problem. The earliest attempts at standardizing Russian were made based on the so-called Moscow official or chancery language, during the 15th to 17th centuries. Since then, the trend of language policy in Russia has been standardization in both the restricted sense of reducing dialectical barriers between ethnic Russians, and

13152-507: The grenade launcher via a detachable magazine. The majority of AKS-74U carbines were manufactured at the Tula Arms Factory rather than Izhmash . There were some accessories produced for the AKS-74U including a plastic thigh holster and (shorter than standard) 20-round AK-74 type magazines. The rifle utilizes a proprietary 25 mm wide sling that differs from the standard 35 mm AK sling also in construction. The AKS-74U also exists in

13289-617: The gun was nicknamed "the Osama" in jihadist circles, after Osama bin Laden was photographed next to an AKS-74U. Research by The Firearm Blog published in 2016 suggests that the name "Krinkov" is a Pashtun invention that came to the United States with accounts of the Mujahideen. The AKS-74U is approximately 3 oz (85 g) lighter than the NATO equivalent XM177 , and 10.2 in (260 mm) shorter with

13426-443: The issue of muzzle rise. The Jatimatic submachine gun is an example of a firearm where the bore axis is inclined against the bolt and the rest of the firearm in order to redirect the recoil force slightly upwards. The KRISS Vector submachine gun uses a more elaborate mechanical articulated mechanism which allows the block and bolt to recoil not just rearward like most other firearms, but back and then 'vectored' down off-axis along

13563-422: The left side of the receiver with an additional rivet (often called a "bump rivet" because of this) making it easier to replace in case of wear. Each AK-74M is fitted with a side-rail bracket for mounting optics that is a simplified version of the 74N mount with less machining cuts. The AK-74M would have been adopted by the Soviet Union as the standard service rifle, and has been accepted as the new service rifle of

13700-399: The less compact AK-105 carbine in Russian military service. It is commonly used by law enforcement; for example, each urban police foot patrol is issued at least one. The AKS-74U's compact dimensions were achieved by using a short 206.5 mm (8.1 in) barrel (this forced designers to simultaneously reduce the gas piston operating rod to an appropriate length). Due to the shortening of

13837-524: The modernization of 5.45×39mm and 7.62×39mm chambered AK-pattern assault rifles for normal military units, reconnaissance units, and special forces units. In 2015, the Kalashnikov Concern announced a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defence to deliver upgrade kits for their AK-74M assault rifles. In 1973, a design competition (codenamed "Modern"—Модерн) was started for the adoption of

13974-409: The most geographically widespread language of Eurasia . It is the world's seventh-most spoken language by number of native speakers , and the world's ninth-most spoken language by total number of speakers . Russian is one of two official languages aboard the International Space Station , one of the six official languages of the United Nations , as well as the fourth most widely used language on

14111-496: The multi-model night vision sight NSPUM ( 1PN58 ). The AKS-74 ("S"— Russian : складной ; Skladnoy , or "foldable"), is a variant of the AK-74 equipped with a side-folding metal shoulder stock, designed primarily for use with air assault infantry and developed alongside the basic AK-74. Unlike the AKMS 's somewhat fragile underfolding stock (modeled after the MP 40 submachine gun stock),

14248-433: The multiple modifications were applied to meet Russian military standards, as well as to improve upon the "range of defects" that were discovered on prototype models and to address concerns regarding the cost of earlier prototypes. In September 2016 the prototype models were replaced by the final production models of the AK-12 (chambered in 5.45×39mm) and AK-15 (chambered in 7.62×39mm) assault rifles. Parallel developments are

14385-516: The northwestern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region . Russian was also the main foreign language taught in school in China between 1949 and 1964. In Kazakhstan , Russian is not a state language, but according to article 7 of the Constitution of Kazakhstan its usage enjoys equal status to that of the Kazakh language in state and local administration. The 2009 census reported that 10,309,500 people, or 84.8% of

14522-406: The operating mechanism, the cyclic rate rose slightly to around 700 rounds per minute. In order to effectively stabilize projectiles, the barrel's twist rate was increased from 200 mm (1:7.87 in) or 37 calibers rifling twist rate to 160 mm (1:6.3 in) or 29.6 calibers rifling twist rate to adapt the AKS-74U for muzzle velocities of 720 m/s (2,362 ft/s) and higher. A new gas block

14659-515: The other hand, before the war, almost a quarter of Ukrainians were in favour of granting Russian the status of the state language, while after the beginning of Russia's invasion the support for the idea dropped to just 7%. In peacetime, the idea of raising the status of Russian was traditionally supported by residents of the south and east . But even in these regions, only a third of the respondents were in favour, and after Russia's full-scale invasion , their number dropped by almost half. According to

14796-455: The other three languages in the East Slavic branch. In many places in eastern and southern Ukraine and throughout Belarus, these languages are spoken interchangeably, and in certain areas traditional bilingualism resulted in language mixtures such as Surzhyk in eastern Ukraine and Trasianka in Belarus. An East Slavic Old Novgorod dialect , although it vanished during the 15th or 16th century,

14933-446: The parliament approved a bill to close up all Russian language schools and kindergartens by the school year. The transition to only Estonian language schools and kindergartens will start in the 2024-2025 school year. In Latvia , Russian is officially considered a foreign language. 55% of the population was fluent in Russian in 2006, and 26% used it as the main language with family, friends, or at work. On 18 February 2012, Latvia held

15070-446: The parts in the AK-74 and AKM are the same (including pins, springs and screws). The rifle's operation during firing and reloading is identical to that of the AKM. After ignition of the cartridge primer and propellant, rapidly expanding propellant gases are diverted into the gas cylinder above the barrel through a vent near the muzzle. The build-up of gases inside the gas cylinder drives the long-stroke piston and bolt carrier rearward and

15207-453: The peasants' speech was never systematically studied, as it was generally regarded by philologists as simply a source of folklore and an object of curiosity. This was acknowledged by the noted Russian dialectologist Nikolai Karinsky , who toward the end of his life wrote: "Scholars of Russian dialects mostly studied phonetics and morphology. Some scholars and collectors compiled local dictionaries. We have almost no studies of lexical material or

15344-455: The population aged 15 and above, could read and write well in Russian, and understand the spoken language. In October 2023, Kazakhstan drafted a media law aimed at increasing the use of the Kazakh language over Russian, the law stipulates that the share of the state language on television and radio should increase from 50% to 70%, at a rate of 5% per year, starting in 2025. In Kyrgyzstan , Russian

15481-418: The population was fluent in Russian in 2006, and 67% used it as the main language with family, friends, or at work. According to the 2019 Belarusian census , out of 9,413,446 inhabitants of the country, 5,094,928 (54.1% of the total population) named Belarusian as their native language, with 61.2% of ethnic Belarusians and 54.5% of ethnic Poles declaring Belarusian as their native language. In everyday life in

15618-475: The pronunciation of ultra-short or reduced /ŭ/ , /ĭ/ . Because of many technical restrictions in computing and also because of the unavailability of Cyrillic keyboards abroad, Russian is often transliterated using the Latin alphabet. For example, мороз ('frost') is transliterated moroz , and мышь ('mouse'), mysh or myš' . Once commonly used by the majority of those living outside Russia, transliteration

15755-466: The proper pronunciation of uncommon words or names. Russian is an East Slavic language of the wider Indo-European family . It is a descendant of Old East Slavic , a language used in Kievan Rus' , which was a loose conglomerate of East Slavic tribes from the late 9th to the mid-13th centuries. From the point of view of spoken language , its closest relatives are Ukrainian , Belarusian , and Rusyn ,

15892-491: The respondents), while according to the 2002 census – 142.6 million people (99.2% of the respondents). In Ukraine , Russian is a significant minority language. According to estimates from Demoskop Weekly, in 2004 there were 14,400,000 native speakers of Russian in the country, and 29 million active speakers. 65% of the population was fluent in Russian in 2006, and 38% used it as the main language with family, friends, or at work. On 5 September 2017, Ukraine's Parliament passed

16029-440: The rifle's camouflage and lacked the small horizontal reinforcing ribs running down both sides of the magazine body near the front that were added on all later AK-74 magazine generations. A second generation steel-reinforced dark-brown (color shades vary from maroon to plum to near black) 30-round magazine was introduced in the early 1980s, fabricated from ABS plastic. The third generation steel-reinforced 30-round AK-74 magazine

16166-497: The sights on the center of mass (the belt buckle) of the enemy target. Any errors in range estimation are tactically irrelevant, as a well-aimed shot will hit the torso of the enemy soldier. The AKS-74U is significantly more maneuverable in tight quarters than the AKS-74; however, the significant decline in muzzle velocity to 735 m/s (2,411 ft/s) resulted in a 100 m (109 yd) reduction in effective range to 400 m (437 yd) (the effective hitting distance for

16303-456: The stock folded. The AKS-74UB ("B"— Russian : бесшумный ; Besshumniy or "silent") is a sound-suppressed variant of the AKS-74U adapted for use with the PBS-4 suppressor (used in combination with subsonic 5.45×39mm Russian ammunition). The modernised variant of the AK-74 — the AK-74M — was used as the technical basis for the new Russian AK-100 family of Kalashnikov firearms: Even with

16440-401: The stock is held closed by a spring-loaded capture hook situated on the left side at the front of the receiver housing. A rear-mounted sling swivel is also provided on the right side at the beginning of the stock frame. It retains the pistol grip reinforcement plate the AKMS used, though due to the less complex rear trunnion, only has one riveting hole in place of the three on the AKMS. In 1991,

16577-675: The survey carried out by RATING in August 2023 in the territory controlled by Ukraine and among the refugees, almost 60% of the polled usually speak Ukrainian at home, about 30% – Ukrainian and Russian, only 9% – Russian. Since March 2022, the use of Russian in everyday life has been noticeably decreasing. For 82% of respondents, Ukrainian is their mother tongue, and for 16%, Russian is their mother tongue. IDPs and refugees living abroad are more likely to use both languages for communication or speak Russian. Nevertheless, more than 70% of IDPs and refugees consider Ukrainian to be their native language. In

16714-459: The syntax of Russian dialects." After 1917, Marxist linguists had no interest in the multiplicity of peasant dialects and regarded their language as a relic of the rapidly disappearing past that was not worthy of scholarly attention. Nakhimovsky quotes the Soviet academicians A.M Ivanov and L.P Yakubinsky, writing in 1930: The language of peasants has a motley diversity inherited from feudalism. On its way to becoming proletariat peasantry brings to

16851-412: The temporary cavity effect caused by yaw and cavitation of a projectile. With the 5.45 mm bullet, tumbling produced a temporary cavity twice, at depths of 100 mm (3.9 in) and 350 mm (13.8 in). This is similar to (but more rapid than) modern 7.62×39mm ammunition and to (non-fragmenting) 5.56×45mm NATO ammunition. The original steel-reinforced 30-round AK-74 detachable box magazine

16988-562: The three most common 7.62×39mm AK platform magazines and the 5.45×39mm AK-74 magazine. The AK-74 series is also available in several "night-fighting" configurations, equipped with a side dovetail rail for mounting optical sights. These variants, the AK-74N , AKS-74N and AKS-74UN can be used in conjunction with NSPU and NSPU-3 ( 1PN51 ) night sights, as well as optical sights such as the USP-1 (1P29). The variants designated AK-74N2 and AKS-74N2 can use

17125-770: The two. Others divide the language into three groupings, Northern , Central (or Middle), and Southern , with Moscow lying in the Central region. The Northern Russian dialects and those spoken along the Volga River typically pronounce unstressed /o/ clearly, a phenomenon called okanye ( оканье ). Besides the absence of vowel reduction, some dialects have high or diphthongal /e⁓i̯ɛ/ in place of Proto-Slavic  * ě and /o⁓u̯ɔ/ in stressed closed syllables (as in Ukrainian) instead of Standard Russian /e/ and /o/ , respectively. Another Northern dialectal morphological feature

17262-506: The use of the language has some presence in certain areas. A large part of the population, especially the older generations, can speak Russian as a foreign language. However, English has replaced Russian as lingua franca in Lithuania and around 80% of young people speak English as their first foreign language. In contrast to the other two Baltic states, Lithuania has a relatively small Russian-speaking minority (5.0% as of 2008). According to

17399-519: Was believed that yawing and cavitation of projectiles were primarily responsible for tissue damage. Martin Fackler conducted a study with an AK-74 assault rifle using live pigs and ballistic gelatin ; "The result of our preset test indicate that the AK-74 bullet acts in the manner expected of a full-metal-cased military ammunition – it does not deform or fragment when striking soft tissues". Most organs and tissue were too flexible to be severely damaged by

17536-436: Was developed for replacing the shorter barreled AKS-74U. The AK-105 is used by the Russian Army and Ministry of Internal Affairs. Additionally, the 5.45×39mm AK-107 , 5.56×45mm NATO AK-108 and 7.62×39mm AK-109 assault rifles were developed. These have a technically differing balanced recoil system to reduce felt recoil and muzzle rise. This balanced recoil system designed by Yuriy K. Alexandrov for Kalashnikov-pattern rifles

17673-405: Was first introduced in North America when Russian explorers voyaged into Alaska and claimed it for Russia during the 18th century. Although most Russian colonists left after the United States bought the land in 1867, a handful stayed and preserved the Russian language in this region to this day, although only a few elderly speakers of this unique dialect are left. In Nikolaevsk, Alaska , Russian

17810-421: Was fluent in Russian in 2006, and 19% used it as the main language with family, friends, or at work. According to the 2014 Moldovan census , Russians accounted for 4.1% of Moldova's population, 9.4% of the population declared Russian as their native language, and 14.5% said they usually spoke Russian. According to the 2010 census in Russia , Russian language skills were indicated by 138 million people (99.4% of

17947-445: Was installed at the muzzle end of the barrel with a muzzle booster , which features an internal expansion chamber inside the cylindrical section of the booster while the conical end acts as a nozzle to increase net pressure inside the gas chamber by supplying an increased amount of propellant gases from the barrel. The chrome-lined muzzle booster also burns any remaining propellant, which would normally reduce muzzle blast. However, due to

18084-450: Was joined by designs of Mikhail Kalashnikov (PP1), Igor Stechkin ( TKB-0116 ), S. G. Simonov ( AG-043 ), A. S. Konstantinov ( AEK-958 ), and Yevgeny Dragunov (who called his model "MA"). Kalashnikov also presented an additional design (A1-75) which differed from PP1 by having a modified muzzle for flash and noise suppression. In 1977, the GRAU decided to adopt Kalashnikov's model, which

18221-496: Was largely a shortened AKS-74, because its performance was no worse than the competition, and promised significant production cost savings by utilizing existing equipment for the AK-74 line. A final round of large scale testing with Kalashnikov's model was performed by airborne divisions in the Transcaucasian Military District in March 1977. The AKS-74U ("U"— Russian : укороченный ; Ukorochenniy , or "shortened")

18358-431: Was officially adopted in 1979, and given the official, but seldom used GRAU designation 6P26. Production stopped in 1993. The AKS-74U bridges the tactical deployment gap between a submachine gun and an assault rifle . It was intended for use mainly with special forces , airborne infantry, rear-echelon support units, helicopter and armored vehicle crews. It has been augmented and replaced by various submachine guns, and

18495-522: Was similar to that of the AKM, except for minor dimensional changes required by the 5.45×39mm cartridge. These magazines discolour over time from yellowish to rust-coloured shades, and are often mistakenly identified as being made of Bakelite (a phenolic resin ), but were actually fabricated from two-parts of AG-4S molding compound (a glass-reinforced phenol-formaldehyde binder impregnated composite), assembled using an epoxy resin adhesive. Noted for their durability, these magazines did however compromise

18632-459: Was the 4×26 1P29 Universal sight for small arms. It was copied from and hence similar to the British SUIT (Sight Unit Infantry, Trilux). When mounted the 1P29 sight is positioned centered above the receiver at a height that allows the use of the iron sights. It weighs 0.8 kg, offers 4× magnification with a field of view of 8° and 35 mm eye relief. The 1P29 is issued with a canvas pouch,

18769-402: Was the sixth-most used language on the top 1,000 sites, behind English, Chinese, French, German, and Japanese. Despite leveling after 1900, especially in matters of vocabulary and phonetics, a number of dialects still exist in Russia. Some linguists divide the dialects of Russian into two primary regional groupings, "Northern" and "Southern", with Moscow lying on the zone of transition between

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