Free Republic

The residents of two more Siberian cities have now lost the right to elect their mayor in the latest restriction of direct elections in the country. Kemerovo and Novokuznetsk, two of the largest cities in the Siberian region of Kemerovo, will now have appointed instead of elected mayors, according to new laws signed by the regional governor earlier this week. Regional lawmakers voted in April 2018 to abolish direct mayoral elections in Russia’s fourth-largest city of Yekaterinburg, leading its popular mayor Yevgeny Roizman to resign in protest. Other major cities that have abolished elections in recent years include Petrozavodsk, Novgorod...

‘Children die every day. Many have AIDS.’ How Russian officials responded to the deadly fire at a shopping mall in Kemerovo Kemerovo officials: “Why the calls for immediate resignations?” On March 27, locals and many relatives of those killed in Sunday’s tragic fire rallied in Kemerovo's central square. When one of the demonstrators, a man named Igor Vostrikov, accused the authorities of treating their constituents like animals, Lieutenant Governor Sergey Tsivilev answered, “Young man, what do you mean? Do you want to exploit this grief for PR purposes?” Vostrikov then explained that his entire family died in the fire: his...

Russians took to social media in the wake of a deadly shopping-mall fire to allege that national TV channels avoided coverage of the March 25 event because Moscow was not keen to highlight "bad news" -- a suggestion the Kremlin has dismissed as "absurd." As the death toll mounted -- reaching 64 on March 26 -- some social-media users faulted mainly state-run TV for failing to break into their normal Sunday broadcasting to report on the tragedy that was unfolding in the Siberian city or Kemerovo. Calling the coverage "disgraceful," journalist Ilya Varlamov posted a snapshot of some of the...

Russian investigators have detained four people as part of a criminal investigation into Sunday's deadly fire at a shopping mall in the Siberian city of Kemerovo. At least 64 people were killed when a fire swept through the upper floors of the Winter Cherry mall, which housed a cinema complex and children’s play area. Russia’s Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case into death through negligence, fire safety violations and the provision of services in violation of safety requirements.

At least 37 people are confirmed to have died in a fire that tore through a shopping centre in the Siberian city of Kemerovo. Dozens more people, children believed to be among them, are missing, according to Russian media. The blaze started on an upper floor of the Winter Cherry complex and many of the victims were in a cinema. Video posted on social media showed people jumping from windows to escape the flames on Sunday. Smoke billowed from windows as fire crews worked to evacuate the property. Kemerovo, a key coal-producing area, lies about 3,600km (2,200 miles) east of...