The tragic death of a minister who tried to save a photographer, and they died together.. video

Russia's Minister of Emergency Situations Yevgeny Zenichev, a former member of President Vladimir Putin's personal protection, died while trying to rescue a person during an exercise, the ministry announced Wednesday.

The ministry told TASS that the 55-year-old "died tragically during inter-ministerial exercises in Norilsk to protect the Arctic while trying to save a person's life."

"He was on the edge of a cliff with a videographer who slipped and fell into the ocean," said Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of the pro-Kremlin TV channel RT, in a post on her Telegram channel.

"No one had time to realize what happened when Zenichev rushed into the ocean after the man fell and hit the rocks," she added, noting that the photographer was also killed.

The channel clarified in messages that were later published on Telegram that its team did not witness the incident, but was among a group of journalists covering the ongoing training and followed the minister earlier.

Deputy Minister Andrei Gurovich noted that the minister "did not hesitate for a moment to act, not as a minister, but as an ordinary man, as a savior who did a heroic act."

Russian agencies quoted the Ministry of Emergency Situations as naming the second victim as Alexander Melnik, a 63-year-old Russian screenwriter and director.

"President Putin expressed his sincere condolences" to the family of Yevgeny Zenichev following his "tragic death," the Kremlin said in a statement, adding that the president and Zenichev "were bound by several years of joint work."

Ex-intelligence officer

The official, who has been in office since 2018, spent most of his career in various Russian security services, especially the responsibility of guarding President Vladimir Putin, according to a biography published by Russian agencies.

He served in the KGB during the last years of the Soviet Union, then joined the Personal Protection Service in 1991.

Since 2006, the man with a stern appearance has been assigned to the security service of Presidents Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev.

Since 2014, he has been appointed deputy head of the counter-terrorism department of the Russian Federal Security Service.

From 2016 until his appointment to the head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations in 2018, Zenichev served as Deputy Director of the Russian Federal Security Service.

The Ministry of Emergency Situations, with about 120,000 employees, responds to natural disasters and environmental incidents, such as the unprecedented floods and fires that swept Russia this summer.

A ministry statement issued on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, before the minister's death, said that Zinechev was in Norilsk to conduct large-scale exercises involving 6,000 people in the Arctic.

"I personally supervised the training of these units to respond to emergencies," the statement said, along with photos showing Zenichev meeting teams at the site as he inspected the construction of a new fire station.

On September 8, during an interdepartmental exercise for the protection of the Arctic region from emergencies in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the Minister of Emergencies Yevgeny Zenichev tragically died.

According to eyewitnesses and journalists working on the exercises, the minister and the camera crew stood on the edge of the ledge.

At one point, worker Alexander Melnik slipped, and fell.

Without hesitation, Zenichev rushed after him to keep him.

Both crashed.

RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan wrote in her telegram: "No one had time to find out what happened when Zenichev threw himself into the water after a man fell and crashed into a protruding stone. He died as a savior."

channel.

By helicopter, the two victims were urgently taken to a hospital in Norilsk.

However, they died on the way.

The incident has already been reported to the President of Russia.

According to the press secretary of the Head of State, Dmitry Peskov, this is a great loss for Vladimir Putin, they have been associated with Zenichev for many years of joint work.

The President has already sent a telegram of condolences to the relatives of the deceased.

Yevgeny Zinchev was 55 years old.

He worked since 1987 in the state security services.

In the summer of 2016, he was appointed acting governor of the Kaliningrad region, and from October of the same year he became deputy director of the FSB.

Zenichev headed the Ministry of Emergency Situations for only three years - he was appointed to the post of Minister of Civil Defense, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters by presidential decree of May 18, 2018. During his work, Zenichev was awarded the Order for Merit to the Fatherland, 4th degree, the Order of Service to the Fatherland, 2nd degree Suvorov Medal.

A year ago Zenichev received the rank of general in the army.

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