Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday sacked a regional leader who forced a firefighter to jump in the air to receive keys for new fire engines.
The leader of the central Russian region of Chuvashiya, Mikhail Ignatyev, at a public ceremony last week dangled keys over the head of a uniformed officer in the Ministry of Emergency Situations, forcing him to jump up to take them.
After a video emerged on social media, Ignatyev’s press service tried to play down the scandal, saying that the men were friendly acquaintances.
However, Russian Minister of Emergency Situations Yevgeny Zinichev said Ignatyev’s behavior was unethical.
“It’s unacceptable for such a high-ranking official to behave in such a way,” he said in a statement released by his press service.
He also said the firefighter behaved inappropriately by playing along, since he represents an “agency respected not only in our country, but in the whole world.”
Putin dismissed Ignatyev on the grounds that he had lost trust in him.
The announcement came a day after the ruling United Russia party excluded him, with Ethics Committee secretary Yevgeny Revenko saying: “If that was meant to be a joke, it wasn’t funny.”
Known for gaffes, Ignatyev once addressed then-Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev by the wrong name during a televised meeting, calling him Vasily.
Earlier this month, he caused a scandal by apparently recommending killing journalists who praise life in Europe.
In a speech on Jan. 13, he said such journalists “need to be rubbed out, as the ordinary folk say. They need to be rubbed out.”
He later apologized, saying his words had been misinterpreted.
Putin appointed Russian lawmaker Oleg Nikolayev as acting head of Chuvashia, pending elections of a new regional chief.
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