MOSCOW, October 25 (RIA Novosti) - The interior minister of the Russian republic of Tuva in southern Siberia has been dismissed following an incident involving a local policeman who killed a colleague.
"In connection with the tragedy that happened in the interior bodies of the Republic of Tuva, Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev, on an instruction from the Russian president, removed the republic's interior minister from office," the Kremlin said Sunday.
Maj. Gen. Viktor Lesnyak's dismissal came after Saturday's scandal when a drunk police officer in the city of Kyzyl shot dead a traffic policeman, wounded another officer and finally killed himself.
The ministry said Sr. Lt. Ayap Pavlov failed to appear at work at a designated time. Later his car was discovered by traffic police officers, who said he was drunk. When they seated Pavlov into their car to take him to a medical facility for an intoxication test, he opened fire on them and shot himself dead.
Russia's Interior Ministry recently fired several top police officials and pledged to toughen internal control and review the current personnel selection system following an appalling incident in a Moscow supermarket when a police officer went on a shooting spree in April killing three people and wounding six.
Nurgaliyev said top ministry officials were heading for Tuva to investigate the incident.
