Russia's legendary rifle-designer Mikhail Kalashnikov checked out of hospital on Saturday after spending nearly a week in an intensive care unit with swelling and general fatigue. The 93-year-old father of the AK-47 had been under the care of doctors in the central Russian city of Izhevsk - home to the tsarist-era plant that makes Russia's most famous weapon. "He checked out today at 1:00 pm," Interfax quoted the centre's chief doctor Sergei Ryashchikov as saying.

"I just spoke to him - he is quite sprightly. His eyes are shining bright." Ryashchikov said Kalashnikov underwent a scheduled checkup but his aide had earlier said that he had been suffering from what appeared to be the side effects of a lingering heart condition. Kalashnikov designed his famous rifles - staples of armies across the world for the past half century - at Izhevsk's Izmash factory and lives in the region to this day. The 205-year-old plant remains one of the main producers of Russian weapons and is treasured as a national icon.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2012