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Am aflat povestea aceasta în vara lui 2006. Un articol de ziar descria<br />
disputa lungæ de decenii – ca sæ fim delicafli – dintre Rusia øi Bulgaria cu<br />
privire la pretenflia Rusiei cum cæ producerea øi vînzarea armei de asalt<br />
AK-47 de cætre Bulgaria este ilegalæ. Aceastæ faimoasæ bijuterie a armelor<br />
automate a fost conceputæ de cætre Mihail Kalaønikov la sfîrøitul anilor<br />
’40 øi, în perioada comunistæ, Uniunea Sovieticæ a oferit în mod gratuit<br />
permisiunea øi întreaga documentaflie tehnicæ aferentæ Republicii Populare<br />
Bulgaria, pentru ca acest mic stat-satelit sæ poatæ produce modelul<br />
AK-47 pentru a satisface nevoia stringentæ a blocului estic.<br />
Mai tîrziu, socialismul a eøuat øi capitalismul a preluat comanda. Însæ AK-<br />
47 n-a constituit niciodatæ subiectul vreunui patent internaflional sau al<br />
unui transfer legal de produs intelectual. Dacæ lucrurile ar fi stat astfel,<br />
M. Kalaønikov ar fi devenit de mult miliardar, avînd în vedere cæ, potrivit<br />
statisticilor disponibile, între 50.000.000 øi 100.000.000 de arme AK-<br />
47 s-au vîndut în toatæ lumea. Prin urmare, atunci cînd, în anii ’90, între<br />
Rusia øi Bulgaria au izbucnit discuflii tensionate, era evident cæ lucrurile<br />
nu îøi puteau gæsi rezolvarea într-un tribunal internaflional.<br />
E dificil acum sæ urmærim întorsæturile øi meandrele negocierilor, precum<br />
øi evolufliile adiacente care au urmat. Pe de o parte, toate întîlnirile<br />
comisiilor interguvernamentale au fost secrete, iar pe de altæ parte,<br />
cei ca mine nu sînt niøte obiønuifli ai expozifliilor de arme øi, ca atare, nu<br />
au fost martorii nemijlocifli ai unora dintre certurile cele mai stînjenitoare,<br />
în care ruøii le-au interzis bulgarilor sæ expunæ øi sæ vîndæ bunuri care le<br />
aparflineau lor. Oricum, în special în ultimii ani, producætori bulgari au<br />
început sæ susflinæ cæ au trecut la producflia unei alte arme de asalt, numitæ<br />
AR øi care, în ciuda vagii asemænæri cu AK-47, a fost în întregime modernizatæ<br />
în conformitate cu standardele NATO, vînzærile sale fiind<br />
într-adevær foarte ridicate. De exemplu, potrivit presei bulgare, acum<br />
cîfliva ani American Central Command for Iraq a hotærît sæ achiziflioneze<br />
40.000 de arme de asalt bulgæreøti AR pentru a înarma noua armatæ<br />
a Irakului democratizat.<br />
Cam asta øtiam cînd am decis sæ abordez cele douæ pærfli în încercarea<br />
de a le face sæ vorbeascæ în fafla camerei. Ca un prim pas, m-am concentrat<br />
asupra fabricii bulgare „A…I“, un producætor de arme situat în<br />
pitorescul oraø K. Ca artist nefamiliarizat cu domeniul militar øi lipsit, în<br />
acelaøi timp, de orice fel de contact cu comercianflii de arme, l-am rugat<br />
pe ministrul adjunct al culturii (o doamnæ dræguflæ) sæ mæ ajute øi sæ mæ<br />
punæ în contact cu directorul general de la „A…I“, Dl N. I. Ea i-a telefonat<br />
ministrului adjunct al apærærii (o altæ doamnæ dræguflæ) øi mi s-a promis<br />
o întrevedere. Paranoic din fire, am rugat un bine-cunoscut reporter<br />
(din nou o femeie) sæ mæ ajute.<br />
Astfel cæ pe 1 decembrie 2006, cînd am apærut în fafla Dlui I. în biroul<br />
sæu, acesta a început prin a spune: „Singurul care n-a sunat în legæturæ<br />
cu venirea dumneavoastræ e primul-ministru!“ Cu toate astea, mi-au trebuit<br />
aproape trei ore pentru a-l convinge pe directorul general sæ pronunfle<br />
cîteva cuvinte în fafla camerei. Motivul? Principala problemæ era<br />
cæ încercarea mea de a face ambele pærfli sæ vorbeascæ intervenea<br />
chiar în toiul ultimei runde de negocieri dure între reprezentanflii Rusiei<br />
I came across this story in the summer of 2006. A newspaper article described the<br />
decade-long dispute – to put it mildly – between Russia and Bulgaria over Russia’s<br />
claim that Bulgaria’s continued manufacturing and selling of the AK-47 assault<br />
rifle was illegal. This notorious masterpiece of automatic weaponry was conceived<br />
by Mikhail Kalashnikov in the late 1940s, and in the socialist era the Soviet Union<br />
freely gave its permission, as well as all related technical documentation, to the<br />
People’s Republic of Bulgaria, so that the small satellite state could churn out<br />
AK-47s to satisfy intense Eastern bloc demand.<br />
Years later, socialism collapsed and capitalism took over. However, the AK-47 had<br />
never been the subject of an international patent application or legal transfer<br />
as an intellectual product. If it had been, M. Kalashnikov would have long ago<br />
become a billionaire as, according to available statistics to date, somewhere<br />
between 50,000,000 and 100,000,000 AK-47s have been marketed worldwide.<br />
So, when tough talks on the issue kicked off between Russia and Bulgaria in the<br />
1990s, it was obvious things could not be settled in an international court.<br />
It is now difficult to retrace the twists and turns of the negotiations and other<br />
related developments that followed. On the one hand, all meetings of the intergovernmental<br />
commissions were secret, and on the other, people like myself don’t<br />
usually go to gun show and so have not directly witnessed some of the more<br />
embarrassing rows, with Russians publicly telling Bulgarians off for exhibiting and<br />
selling stuff that belonged to them. However, during the last few years especially,<br />
Bulgarian manufacturers started to claim that they had switched production over<br />
to a different assault rifle named the AR that, despite its slight similarity to the AK-<br />
47, was entirely modernized in line with NATO standards and was selling very well<br />
indeed. For example, according to the Bulgarian press, a couple of years ago the<br />
American Central Command for Iraq decided to purchase 40,000 Bulgarian AR<br />
assault rifles to arm the new democratic Iraqi army.<br />
That was more or less what I knew when I decided to approach the two sides<br />
and try to have them talk in front of the camera. As a first step I focused on the<br />
Bulgarian “A...l” factory, a producer of the rifles situated in the picturesque city of<br />
K. As an artist unconnected to the military who also lacks any contacts whatsoever<br />
with arms dealers, I asked the deputy minister of culture (a nice lady) to help put<br />
me in touch with the director-general of “A...l”, Mr. N. I. She phoned the deputy<br />
minister of defense (another nice lady) and I was promised a meeting. Since I am<br />
paranoid by nature, I also asked a well-known reporter (again a woman) to help.<br />
So, on December 1, 2006, when I appeared before Mr. I. in his office, he started<br />
by saying: “The prime minister was the only one who didn’t call about you coming!”<br />
Nevertheless, it took me almost three hours to convince the director-general<br />
to say a few words on camera. Why? The main problem was that my attempt to<br />
get both sides to talk was simultaneously being pursued right in the middle of the<br />
last round of heavy negotiations between representatives of Russia and Bulgaria<br />
on the intellectual property of military items. Obviously Mr. I., a reasonable middle-aged<br />
man, didn’t want to jeopardize the entangled disputes by talking to an<br />
artist who, to his question: “But why do you – not a journalist – have an interest in<br />
this matter?!” gave a rather peculiar answer: “Because I’m used to reading about<br />
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