Anger over the deadly fire in a shopping mall in Kemerovo spilled on to the streets of the Siberian city on Tuesday as thousands of people joined a rally to protest over official mishandling of the disaster. President Vladimir Putin arrived in Kemerovo earlier in the day and blamed “criminal negligence” and “sloppiness” for the blaze at the Winter Cherry shopping mall and recreation on Sunday. Russian president Vladimir Putin meets locals and relatives of missing persons in the Siberian city of Kemerovo on Tuesday. Alexander Bastrykin, the chairman of the Russian Investigative Committee, told Mr Putin that the evacuation of Winter Cherry had been badly organised. Asked by people in Kemerovo on Tuesday if he would sack Mr Tuleyev, Mr Putin said it was neither the time nor the place to announce such a move.

Source: The Irish Times March 27, 2018 09:59 UTC