Yevgeny Zinichev served in the security department of President Vladimir Putin and was the first member of the Russian cabinet to die in the line of duty. (Photo by Maxim GrigoryevTASS via Getty Images)
- The Russian Minister of Emergency Affairs died while trying to save a filmmaker.
- He was the first Russian minister to die on duty.
- It is said that the filmmaker also lost his life in the incident.
Russian officials said on Wednesday that the Russian Minister of Emergency Affairs was killed while trying to rescue a filmmaker who slipped from a cliff during training in the Arctic.
Yevgeny Zinichev served in the security department of President Vladimir Putin and was the first member of the Russian cabinet to die in the line of duty.
He was hailed as a loyal civil servant and “hero” by senior government officials and Russian leaders. The British ambassador to Russia also expressed condolences.
The ministry said in a statement issued by a Russian news agency that the 55-year-old “died tragically in order to save a person’s life” near the city of Norilsk.
The department identified the film’s producer as 63-year-old Alexander Melnik, who has produced many films set in the Arctic region. It said he was also killed in an incident earlier on Wednesday.
Margarita Simonyan, the well-connected editor-in-chief of the state-sponsored news media RT, said that in order to save those who were later identified as Melnik, the minister had fallen to death.
“He and the photographer are standing on the edge of the cliff,” she said.
The photographer slipped and fell… Before anyone could figure out what was going on, Zinichev jumped into the water with the fallen man and hit a protruding rock.
Zinichev’s deputy Andrei Gurovich said in a televised speech: “He did not act like a minister without even thinking about it, but like a rescuer.
“This is how he lived his life,” Gurovitch added.
Putin issued a usually private note to Zinichev’s family in the Kremlin that he was “shocked” by the tragic news of his death.
Putin said:
We have lost a real military officer, a comrade, a man with strong inner strength, courage and courage who was close to all of us. For me, this is an irreparable personal loss.
Zinichev was a member of the KGB security service in the last few years of the Soviet Union, and his career took off after serving in Putin’s security service from 2006 to 2015.
He has held many high-profile positions, briefly serving as acting governor of the Kaliningrad region in the Russian enclave, and then as deputy director of the Federal Security Service (FSB).
He was appointed Minister of Emergency Situations in May 2018. He is also a member of the Russian Security Council.
On September 7, 2021, Russian Minister of Emergency Evgeny Zinichev (C) inspected the final video of the construction of the new fire station in Norilsk. (Russian Ministry of Emergency SituationsTASS photo, Getty Images)
As the head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, he has held one of the most high-profile cabinet positions, dealing with natural and man-made disasters and other rapid response situations nationwide.
The two-day exercise he participated in in several Arctic cities including Norilsk began on Tuesday and involved more than 6,000 people.
Senior officials and even foreign dignitaries, including Serbian President Alexander Vucic, expressed their condolences.
Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin praised Zinichev as a “real Russian officer”, and Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov said the minister “died like a hero.”
“I know him personally. We work closely and productively,” said Dmitry Rogozin, head of Roscosmos, the Russian Space Agency.
FSB chairman Alexander Bortnikov called his death “a great loss for Russia.”
The British ambassador to Russia, Deborah Bronnet, said on Twitter that she felt “sorrowful” for Zinichev’s death and expressed condolences to his family.
Melnik is an award-winning film director who traveled to Norilsk to shoot a new film about the development of the Arctic and North Sea routes.
Opening the Arctic is a strategic priority for Moscow, and it has huge projects to develop the region’s natural resources.
