President Dmitry Medvedev has fired Alexei Anichin, a deputy interior minister linked to the death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.
The Kremlin provided no reason in a statement announcing the dismissal Saturday.
The European Parliament on Dec. 16 urged the European Union to consider a visa ban on 60 Russian officials including Anichin, linked by Magnitsky’s supporters to his death in a Moscow prison in November 2009. Anchin was also the head of the Interior Ministry’s investigative committee.
The Kremlin statement said Medvedev also fired Yevgeny Shkolov, another deputy interior minister, and replaced Vladislav Piotrovsky, head of St. Petersburg police.
The Kremlin said Monday that Medvedev had named General Alexander Trofimov as Ingushetia’s interior minister and Colonel Apty Alaudinov as Chechnya’s interior minister.
The president has dismissed dozens of generals from the ministry this year as part of his campaign against corruption. New legislation governing police, including a more stringent code of conduct, came into force March 1.
(Bloomberg, MT)