In the United States, the AKS-74U is often 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.

Plus why was the okurok ("cigarette butt," as Russian troops nicknamed it) designed in the first place? The AKS-74U is the work of Russia's most famous weapons designer, Mikhail Kalashnikov.