He will go down in history as the creator of the world's most famous rifle, the AK-47, hailed by enthusiasts for its durability and lightweight firepower. But now Mikhail Kalashnikov says he wishes he had paid more attention to his garden instead.

Mr Kalashnikov, now 82, said if he had his time again he would try to design something useful rather than destructive - preferably a lawnmower.

"I'm proud of my invention, but I'm sad that it is used by terrorists," he said on a visit to Germany, adding: "I would prefer to have invented a machine that people could use and that would help farmers with their work - for example a lawnmower."

The former Red Army officer was opening an AK-47 exhibition in a weapons museum in Suhl, eastern Germany. His comment, made to the German tabloid Bild, was reminiscent of Albert Einstein's remark reflecting on his role in the development of the atom bomb: "If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker."

Mr Kalashnikov, a peasant's son who lives in Siberia, was quick to stress he has made not a kopek from his rifle, 100m of which have been sold since production began in 1947. "The state took everything for it," he said.

He said the Germans were indirectly responsible for the design, which was adopted by the Russian army in 1949. In 1941 a fellow soldier asked him: "Why do our soldiers have only one rifle between three men, while the Germans have automatics?" "So I invented an automatic," he said.