AFP :
The longtime governor of a Russian region where a huge mall inferno killed dozens of people-most of them children-resigned on Sunday after bitter criticism over his response to the tragedy.
Aman Tuleyev, who had been at the helm of the coal-mining region of Kemerovo since 1997, said
in a video address that he could no longer remain at his post with “such a heavy burden” and that quitting was “the only right choice”. The Kremlin swiftly said that President Vladimir Putin had accepted his resignation.
Tuleyev’s move is unusual as top officials in Russia rarely resign over failings in the emergency response to deadly tragedies.
But the huge fire which ravaged a shopping centre in the Siberian industrial city of Kemerovo last Sunday, killing at least 64 people including 41 children, plunged Russia into shock.
The longtime governor of a Russian region where a huge mall inferno killed dozens of people-most of them children-resigned on Sunday after bitter criticism over his response to the tragedy.
Aman Tuleyev, who had been at the helm of the coal-mining region of Kemerovo since 1997, said
in a video address that he could no longer remain at his post with “such a heavy burden” and that quitting was “the only right choice”. The Kremlin swiftly said that President Vladimir Putin had accepted his resignation.
Tuleyev’s move is unusual as top officials in Russia rarely resign over failings in the emergency response to deadly tragedies.
But the huge fire which ravaged a shopping centre in the Siberian industrial city of Kemerovo last Sunday, killing at least 64 people including 41 children, plunged Russia into shock.
