Mikhail Kalashnikov
Trivia
In real life, Kalashnikov was best known for designing the iconic AK-47, which he created after hearing of his comrades' woes from using the standard-issue SVT-40, and decided to combine the best features of the American M1 Garande and the German STG-44 (the latter being the first weapon to officially be referred to as an assault rifle). While his first design lost out to the SKS, his second design (which was submitted to a 1946 competition) won, and said design was the iconic AK-47. This is likely the reason he is present in Zlatoust.
The AK-47 is the assault rifle that all warlords can research. This is somewhat odd in the case of warlords who ally themselves with one of the other major powers (i.e., Magadan leaning towards the United States, Amur allying itself with Japan, or the Aryan Brotherhood aiming to ally with Germany), since in real life, it's normal for countries in military alliances such as NATO to use weapons that use the same caliber of ammunition for the sake of logistics - the AK 47 is most well known for using a 7.62×39mm cartridge, whereas the M16A1 (which is used by the United States both in this mod and the time period OTL this mod covers), for example, is most well known for using a 5.56×45mm cartridge (which is similar to the Remington .223 cartridge), with the latter cartridge being one of two standard NATO cartridges (the other being the 7.62 x 51mm).