Medvedev sacks naval chief

Monday, May 07, 2012

http://images.thenews.com.pk/07-05-2012/ethenews/e-106991.htm

MOSCOW: President Dmitry Medvedev dismissed the head of Russia's accident-prone navy and named anew air force chief on his last full day in office on Sunday as he prepares to take the No 2 post under Vladimir Putin.

 
Medvedev, who is on track to become prime minister after Putin returns to the presidency on Monday for a six-year term, has replaced the heads of the army, navy and air force in the past two weeks.

In a decree announced by the Kremlin, he dismissed Admiral Vladimir Vysotsky, whose nearly five-year stint as navy commander included a fire aboard an atomic-powered submarine in December and a deadly accident on another submarine in 2008.

Authorities initially said all nuclear arms aboard the Yekaterinburg had been unloaded long before a fire broke out aboard the docked vessel on Dec 29, but a senior official later suggested it may still have been carrying the weapons.

The official spoke after the respected magazine Vlast quoted Russian navy sources as saying the submarine was carrying 16 intercontinental ballistic missiles, each armed with four nuclear warheads, during the fire set off by welding sparks.