Medvedev orders reform of Interior Ministry

Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has launched a sweeping reform of the Interior Ministry amid growing public outcry over an avalanche of police crimes.

Mr. Medvedev on Thursday sacked 18 generals including two Deputy Interior Ministers and police chiefs in eight regions, replacing them with new appointees.

The Russian leader also ordered halving the Interior Ministry's central apparatus to 10,000 people and cutting the country's police strength by 20 per cent over the next two years. Salaries for remaining staff would be hiked in an effort to curb rampant corruption.

It is the most radical overhaul of the Russian police ever launched by the Kremlin and may signal Mr. Medvedev's resolve to take a firmer grip on power and emerge from the shadow of his predecessor, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Vowing to take personal control of the reforms Mr. Medvedev said the wave of violent crimes committed by police officers had “undermined” the reputation of police.

He gave Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev one month to formulate measures to combat police abuses and attract better recruits to the police force.

A Moscow court on Friday sentenced to life imprisonment a former police district chief who killed two and wounded seven people in a shooting spree in a Moscow supermarket last year.

Reports of police harassment, violence and corruption have become a daily routine in Russia in recent years.

A poll released by the respected Levada Centre this week showed that more than two-thirds of Russians do not trust and even fear police.