Russian Interior Minister Sacks Officials over Airport Attack

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (L) and Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev (R). Photo by EPA/BGNES

Russia's Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev has sacked the entire leadership of the Interior Ministry management at the Moscow Domodedovo airport because of the suicide attack on January 24.

The Chief of the airport management Alexander Trushanin, his Deputy Chiefs, Alexander Budtsov and Alexander Degterev were fired because of "severe violations of the professional discipline," according to Nurgaliyev's order.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has also fired the deputy head of Moscow police, Major-General Vladimir Chugunov, in connection to the terrorist attack, for which the president blamed poor security measures at the airport.

A 20-year-old man from North Caucasus was the suicide bomber who killed 35 people, including foreigners, and injured over 180 at the Moscow "Domodedovo" airport, Russian investigators announced last week.

At least seven foreigners were among the killed. They were from Britain, Germany, Austria, Ukraine, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.

There were also 16 Russians among the dead. The remaining 12 have not been identified yet.