NEWS

Kremlin Orders Probe Into LUKoil Car Crash

By Scott Rose

The St. Petersburg Times

MOSCOW — President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday ordered Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev to investigate a fatal car crash involving a LUKoil vice president that caused public outrage over a perceived police cover-up.

Earlier in the day, a group of well-known cultural figures signed an open letter to Medvedev asking him to personally oversee an investigation into the accident, which killed Olga Alexandrina, 35, and her 72-year-old mother-in-law, Vera Sidelnikova.

“The president ordered Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev to sort it out and report back on all of the circumstances of this tragedy,” Medvedev’s press secretary, Natalya Timakova, told reporters.

The order comes at a difficult time for Nurgaliyev, who must report back to Medvedev by the end of the month with plans for a sweeping reform of his scandal-ridden ministry. This is also at least the third time in recent months that Medvedev has personally intervened in a law enforcement controversy.

“In recent years, a double standard has reigned over our country’s roads, and people driving cars with special license plates and special signals have become a constant and unpunished threat to ordinary drivers,” the open letter said.

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