MOSCOW — Russia's emergencies minister has died trying to save a
filmmaker who slipped from a cliff during training exercises in the Arctic,
officials said Wednesday.
اضافة اعلان
Yevgeny Zinichev, who previously served in President Vladimir Putin's
security detail, is the first Russian cabinet member to die on duty.
He was lauded by senior government officials and the Russian leader as a
loyal civil servant and a "hero." The UK's ambassador in Russia also
offered condolences.
The 55-year-old "tragically died trying to save a person's life"
near the city of Norilsk, the ministry said in a statement carried by Russian
news agencies.
The ministry identified the filmmaker as 63-year-old Alexander Melnik who
produced several films set in the Arctic region. It said he also died in the
incident that took place earlier Wednesday.
Margarita Simonyan, the well-connected editor-in-chief of the state-funded
news outlet RT, said the minister had fallen to his death trying to save the
man later identified as Melnik.
"He and the cameraman were standing at the edge of a cliff," she
said.
"The cameraman slipped and fell. ... Before anyone even figured out
what happened, Zinichev jumped into the water after the fallen person and
crashed against a protruding rock."
Personal tribute
from Putin
Zinichev's deputy Andrei Gurovich said in televised remarks: "Without
thinking for a second he acted not like a minister, but like a rescuer.”
"This is how he lived all his life," Gurovich added.
In an usually personal note to Zinichev's family published by the Kremlin,
Putin said he was "shocked by the tragic news" of his death.
"We have lost a true military officer, a comrade, a person of great
inner strength and courage, and bravery close to all of us. For me, this is an
irreparable personal loss," Putin said.
Zinichev was a member of the KGB security service in the last years of the
USSR and his career took off after he served in Putin's security detail between
2006 and 2015.
He held a number of high-profile jobs, briefly serving as acting governor of
Russia's exclave region of Kaliningrad and then as deputy head of the Federal
Security Service (FSB).
He was appointed head of the emergencies ministry in May, 2018. He was also
a member of Russia's Security Council.
As head of the emergencies ministry, he held one of the highest-profile
cabinet jobs, dealing with natural and man-made disasters and other
rapid-response situations across the vast country.
The two-day drills he was participating in across several Arctic cities
including Norilsk, kicked off on Tuesday involving over 6,000 people.
'Big loss for
Russia'
Condolences poured in from top officials and even foreign dignitaries
including Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic.
Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin praised Zinichev as a "true Russian
officer" and Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov said the minister "died
like a hero."
"I knew him personally. We worked together closely and
fruitfully," said the head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, Dmitry
Rogozin.
FSB chief Alexander Bortnikov called his passing "a big loss for
Russia."
The British Ambassador to Russia, Deborah Bronnert, said on Twitter she was
"saddened" by Zinichev's death and expressed her condolences to his
family.
Melnik was an award-winning film director and had traveled to Norilsk to
work on a new film about the development of the Arctic and the Northern Sea
Route.
Opening up the Arctic is a strategic priority for Moscow and it has huge
projects to exploit the vast region's natural resources.
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