MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday the deadly fire in Kemerovo was a result of "criminal negligence", according to comments aired by state television from Kemerovo.

Investigators looking into the fire that killed at least 64 people at a busy shopping mall in Siberia on Sunday have said a security guard had turned off the public address system and exits had been illegally blocked.

 

 

 

 (Reporting by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber; writing by Maria Kiselyova; Editing by Sam Holmes)</s>MOSCOW: Vladimir Putin on Monday said he would address disputes with the West after an election that saw him return to the Kremlin with a record vote share, as Moscow faces increasing isolation.

International leaders were slow to congratulate the Russian president after a Sunday election that saw him take almost 77 percent of the vote, as monitors reported ballot stuffing and other alleged cases of fraud.

The poisoning of an ex-spy in Britain along with fresh sanctions from Washington over allegations of meddling in the US 2016 election have isolated Moscow to an extent not seen since the Cold War.

The president, who has ruled Russia for almost two decades, on Monday denied he was driving a new arms race with Washington after he unveiled a range of "invincible" nuclear weapons this month.

"From our side, we will do all we can so that the disputes with our (international) partners be resolved by political and diplomatic means," he said during a meeting with the seven other candidates he resoundingly defeated on Sunday.

"It goes without saying that not everything depends on us -- as with love, both sides have to be involved, otherwise there can be no love at all," he said.

Putin said he would focus on "increasing the well-being of the residents of this country" through investments in healthcare, education and infrastructure during his next term.

With Putin's most vocal opponent Alexei Navalny barred from running for legal reasons, the outcome of the weekend election was never in doubt, and most of the suspense lay in how many people would turn out to vote.

The Kremlin pushed for high participation to give greater legitimacy to a fourth term for Putin, who is already Russia's longest-serving leader since Joseph Stalin.

But Navalny called on supporters to boycott the vote and sent out more than 30,000 monitors to voting stations.

Navalny's movement and the non-governmental election monitor Golos reported ballot stuffing, repeat voting and Putin supporters being bussed into polling stations en masse.

Fewer irregularities were reported than in previous years, however. An OSCE observer mission said that although the election was marred by a lack of "genuine competition", it was generally well conducted.

Authorities used both the carrot and the stick to boost engagement in the polls.

Selfie competitions, giveaways, food festivals and children's entertainers were laid on at polling stations to entice voters.

But employees at state and private companies, as well as students, said they had come under other pressure to vote.

Analysts said Putin used tensions with the West to rally support and suggested that armed with a strong new mandate, he could push through further punitive measures against dissenters.

Putin's campaign spokesman Andrei Kondrashov said that turnout, which was above 67 percent, was eight to 10 percentage points higher than expected. He claimed that was "thanks to Britain."

London this month implicated Putin in the poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal in England with a Soviet-designed nerve agent.

Most of the voters AFP spoke to said they had backed Putin despite Russia's problems of poverty and poor healthcare, praising his foreign policies.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel "warmly congratulated" Putin while stressing in a message she wrote the need to continue dialogue "to address important bilateral and international challenges and find viable solutions."

French President Emmanuel Macron wished Vladimir Putin success in "modernising Russia" after his re-election, but urged Moscow to shed light on the "unacceptable" attempted assassination of an ex-spy in Britain.

Macron also expressed concern over the war in Syria, in which Moscow plays a key role as the regime's closest ally, in a carefully-worded statement that steered clear of congratulating Putin directly.

British Prime Minister Theresa May's spokesman said Britain would not comment on the vote until after a report by independent observers on the electoral process.

And 24 hours after the election, there has been no public comment from US President Donald Trump.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo called Putin to congratulate him on his victory as did Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has just gained a path to indefinite rule.

Among liberal Russians the mood was grim.

"Have you been thinking about emigrating for a long time? This really is the ideal moment," remarked Stanislav Kucher, a journalist for Kommersant FM radio.

Putin polled well ahead of his nearest rival Pavel Grudinin, the Communist Party candidate, who described the elections as "dishonest".

With 99.84 percent of ballots counted, Grudinin had secured 11.8 percent.

Ultra-nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky took 5.66 percent, former reality TV presenter Ksenia Sobchak was on 1.67 percent, while veteran liberal politician Grigory Yavlinsky received just over one percent of the vote.</s>Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The leisure complex fire killed at least 64 people, 41 of them children

Thousands of people have protested in the Siberian city of Kemerovo, angry at Russian officials over the leisure complex fire that killed at least 64 people, 41 of them children.

President Vladimir Putin arrived in Kemerovo earlier and blamed "criminal negligence" for Sunday's blaze.

Relatives say dozens of people - including children - are still missing.

Investigators say the fire alarm was switched off and exits blocked. Four people have been charged.

Another detained suspect - a guard from a private security firm - will be charged shortly, Russia's Investigative Committee says.

A national day of mourning will be observed on Wednesday.

What did protesters demand?

Several thousand people rallied outside the local government headquarters, saying that officials must be sacked over the fire safety shortcomings.

There were also some chants of "Putin resign!"

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The gutted interior of the Kemerovo leisure complex

A woman in the crowd drew applause when she said "children called their parents, asked them for help, asked for the fire brigades to be sent in".

Many demonstrators said they did not trust the authorities and did not believe the announced death toll was accurate.

Officials were booed when they urged the crowd to disperse, after the protest had already lasted seven hours, Russia's RIA news agency reported.

Regional Deputy Governor Sergei Tsivilev then got down on his knees to beg forgiveness, and was applauded by the crowd.

President Putin expressed indignation over the disaster - though he did not speak to the crowd.

"People, children came to relax. We are talking about demography and are losing so many people because of what? Because of criminal negligence, sloppiness," he said.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption 'My whole family has died'

What's the latest on the victims and the missing?

Russian investigators have so far confirmed the deaths of 64 people, 21 of whom have been identified.

Some of the bodies were badly burned in the Zimnyaya Vishnya (Winter Cherry) complex, and DNA tests will be required, the Investigative Committee says.

It says it is too early to publish the victims' list, "to avoid any mistakes".

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Mr Putin (touching patient) met some survivors in a Kemerovo hospital

Meanwhile, relatives of the victims say that another 67 people are missing - in contrast to Kemerovo's authorities, which have published a list of 38 people missing.

This added to the confusion, angering the public.

What caused the fire?

Officials are still investigating this. The blaze started on an upper floor of the complex at about 17:00 local time (10:00 GMT) on Sunday.

It was packed at the time as it was the beginning of the school holiday.

Senior regional official Vladimir Chernov was quoted as saying the fire probably began in the children's trampoline room on the top floor of the four-storey building.

"The preliminary suspicion is that a child had a cigarette lighter which ignited foam rubber in this trampoline room, and it erupted like gunpowder," he said.

However, Rossiya 24 TV, a national broadcaster, said an electrical fault was the most likely cause - as in most previous deadly fires in Russia.

Investigative Committee head Aleksander Bastrykin said the fire alarm at the complex had been down since 19 March, and nobody even tried to fix it.

He also said that the working public alert button was not activated by one of the guards "for unknown reasons".

Mr Bastrykin said investigators had found that many doors on the fourth floor were blocked. Three cinema halls and youth rooms were located on that floor.

He said the investigators believed this was done to prevent people without tickets from entering the cinema halls.

Kemerovo lies about 3,600km (2,200 miles) east of Moscow.

The shopping centre, covering 23,000 sq m (248,000 sq ft), opened in 2013. It includes a petting zoo, all of whose animals are reported to have died.

'There was no panic - she was saying goodbye'

At the scene: Sergei Goryashko and Elizaveta Fokht, BBC Russian

Kemerovo residents' anger has built up since Sunday and it burst forth at the rally of several thousand outside the city's administration building.

The main slogans were "Truth!" and "Resign!" - directed at local officials.

The most active among them was Igor Vostrikov, whose wife, sister and three children - aged two, five and seven - all died in the fire.

Deputy governor Tsivilev accused him of trying to gain publicity out of the tragedy. Igor's reply was that his entire family had suffocated in the cinema, unable to escape because the doors were locked.

Fighting back tears, he described his wife's last moments, when she phoned him, short of breath. "There was no panic - she was saying goodbye."

"I have nothing more to lose," he said.

Dozens of people vowed to stay on the square until governor Aman Tuleyev resigns.</s>MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday blamed the mall fire that killed at least 64 people in the Siberian city of Kemerovo on "criminal negligence" as he visited the site two days after the tragedy.

At least 64 people, many of them children, died when a blaze raged through the busy shopping centre in the industrial city on Sunday, one of the deadliest fires recorded in Russia over the past century.

Putin flew to Kemerovo Tuesday as questions swirled about the Kremlin's handling of the country's latest man-made disaster.

"What is happening here? These are not armed hostilities. This is not an unexpected release of methane. People, children came to relax," Putin told officials in Kemerovo after laying flowers at a makeshift memorial of flowers, stuffed children's toys and balloons near the gutted mall's facade.

"We are talking about demographics but are losing so many people. Because of what? Because of some criminal negligence, slovenliness," Putin said in comments released by the Kremlin.

"The first feelings when they speak about the number of victims and the number of dead children... one feels like wailing -- not crying," Putin said in televised remarks.

The Kemerovo region declared three days of mourning beginning Tuesday.

But many critics wondered why the Kremlin did not call a nationwide day of mourning and said national television channels did not pull entertainment programmes from their schedule fast enough.

Some Muscovites are planing a vigil in the city centre Tuesday evening and several Russian cities declared a period of mourning in solidarity with Kemerovo.

Investigators and witnesses said many people -- including children -- were burned alive because emergency exits were locked, notably at a multiplex cinema where children were watching cartoons.

The Investigative Committee said a criminal probe has been opened and that five people have been arrested including an official of the mall's security firm who is suspected of deactivating the public address system when the fire broke out.</s>Moscow (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday blamed the mall fire that killed at least 64 people in the Siberian city of Kemerovo on "criminal negligence" as he visited the site two days after the tragedy.

At least 64 people, many of them children, died when a blaze raged through the busy shopping centre in the industrial city on Sunday, one of the deadliest fires recorded in Russia over the past century.

Putin flew to Kemerovo Tuesday as questions swirled about the Kremlin's handling of the country's latest man-made disaster.

"What is happening here? These are not armed hostilities. This is not an unexpected release of methane. People, children came to relax," Putin told officials in Kemerovo after laying flowers at a makeshift memorial of flowers, stuffed children's toys and balloons near the gutted mall's facade.

"We are talking about demographics but are losing so many people. Because of what? Because of some criminal negligence, slovenliness," Putin said in comments released by the Kremlin.

"The first feelings when they speak about the number of victims and the number of dead children... one feels like wailing -- not crying," Putin said in televised remarks.

The Kemerovo region declared three days of mourning beginning Tuesday.

But many critics wondered why the Kremlin did not call a nationwide day of mourning and said national television channels did not pull entertainment programmes from their schedule fast enough.

Some Muscovites are planing a vigil in the city centre Tuesday evening and several Russian cities declared a period of mourning in solidarity with Kemerovo.

Investigators and witnesses said many people -- including children -- were burned alive because emergency exits were locked, notably at a multiplex cinema where children were watching cartoons.

The Investigative Committee said a criminal probe has been opened and that five people have been arrested including an official of the mall's security firm who is suspected of deactivating the public address system when the fire broke out.</s>At least 64 people, 41 of them children, died when a blaze raged through the busy shopping centre in the industrial city on Sunday, one of the deadliest fires recorded in Russia over the past century

Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed the mall fire that killed at least 64 people in the Siberian city of Kemerovo on "criminal negligence" as he visited the site two days after the tragedy.

At least 64 people, 41 of them children, died when a blaze raged through the busy shopping centre in the industrial city on Sunday, one of the deadliest fires recorded in Russia over the past century.

"We are talking about demographics but are losing so many people because of some criminal negligence, slovenliness," Putin said after laying flowers at a makeshift memorial of flowers, stuffed toys and balloons near the gutted mall's facade. Thousands of people have protested in Kemerovo, angry at Russian officials over the leisure complex fire.

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever</s>The fire which killed 64 people, many of them children, at a leisure complex was caused by “criminal negligence”, President Vladimir Putin has said, TASS reported.

“What is happening here?”, the Russian president said after laying a wreath at the scene. “This is no battle or an unexpected methane outburst in a mine.”

“People, children came to relax. We are talking about demography and are losing so many people because of what? Because of criminal negligence, sloppiness.”

He also offered his condolences to the families and friends of the victims, starting the meeting with a moment of silence.

A total of 64 people were killed in the fire that swept through the Winter Cherry shopping mall in Russia’s Kemerovo.

Five people have been arrested including the official suspected of deactivating the public address system.</s>Vladimir Putin has said the high death toll from a fire at a shopping centre in the Siberian city of Kemerovo was the result of “criminal negligence”, during a visit to the scene of the blaze.

At least 64 people were killed in the fire that broke out on Sunday afternoon. Investigators said fire exits at the mall had been illegally blocked and the fire alarm system had not functioned properly.

The fire swept through the upper floors of the Winter Cherry shopping centre, where a cinema complex and children’s play area were located.

Putin, re-elected as president last weekend, visited the scene on Tuesday and laid flowers at a makeshift memorial to the victims of the fire.

“What’s happening here? This isn’t war, it’s not a spontaneous methane outburst. People came to relax, children. We’re talking about demography and losing so many people,” Putin said in a meeting with ministers in Kemerovo.

“Why? Because of some criminal negligence, because of slovenliness. How could this ever happen?” he asked.

The head of Russia’s investigative committee, which handles major crimes, said the fire alarm system in the mall had been out of order since 19 March and a security guard had not turned on the public address system to warn people to evacuate the building.

The committee said earlier it was trying to bring in the mall’s owner for questioning.

“Serious violations [of the law] took place when the mall was being built and when it was functioning. The fire exits were blocked,” Svetlana Petrenko, a spokeswoman for the committee, said on Monday.

Four people have been detained, including two employees of the firm that services the mall’s fire alarm.

Emergency services said they had extinguished the fire, but later said it had reignited in places and that rescuers were struggling to recover bodies because the building’s top floor had collapsed. It was unclear on Tuesday whether any people were still unaccounted for.

The health minister, Veronika Skvortsova, said at the scene that 13 people were in hospital, including an 11-year-old boy in a serious condition. Russian media said the boy had leaped from a window and that both his parents had been killed.

Officials said many of the victims would be identifiable by only DNA testing. An unofficial list of those missing, circulating in Russian media, included more than 20 children, some as young as five.

News reports on state-run television Monday said young children had called relatives from the burning shopping centre. “Tell my mother that I loved her,” one young girl told her aunt, according to the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper. “”Tell everyone that I loved them.”

“We are burning,” another young woman wrote on the social network VK. “This may be goodbye.”

The fire was the deadliest since a club in the Siberian city of Perm burned down in 2009, killing 156.</s>Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday said the shopping mall fire that claimed 64 lives, including those of 41 children, was caused by “criminal negligence” and all those responsible for it would be punished.

The horrific fire started on the top floor of the four-storey Winter Cherry shopping mall on Sunday in Kemerovo, located in southern Siberia around 3,000 km east of Moscow. Most of the victims were children as the mall’s shops, cinema and bowling alley were packed due to school holidays.

Visiting the scene in Kemerovo, Putin berated “sloppiness” and told relatives of the victims that there would be a thorough investigation into the incident and those responsible would be punished, TASS news agency reported.

“A 100-member investigative group is working here, headed by the Investigative Committee chief. Rest assured, all those responsible will be punished,” he said.

The inferno engulfed a children’s trampoline room and a cinema hall on the fourth floor. Russia’s Investigative Committee (ICR) in a statement cited “serious violations” and said a fire safety technician at the complex “switched off the alarm system” after being alerted about the fire.

It said a criminal investigation into the cause of the fire had begun, although reports suggested that it could have been started by a child misusing a cigarette lighter or malfunctioning electrical wires.

Out of 64 bodies, 25 were identified which included 13 children, TASS reported.

“The bodies of 13 children who died in the fire have been identified,” Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova said. She also said that experts started DNA tests required for identifying the bodies of those who died in the deadly inferno.

An official in the emergency services said that another 68 people were injured and poisoned with combustion products. Putin visited the injured in Kemerovo’s regional hospital.

Interfax news agency reported that some 300 people gathered outside the local government headquarters demanding the dismissal of authorities.

“What is happening here?”, the Russian President said after laying a wreath at the scene. “This is no battle or an unexpected methane outburst in a mine.”

“People, children came to relax. We are talking about demography and are losing so many people because of what? Because of criminal negligence, sloppiness,” he said. Five people were arrested including the official suspected of deactivating the public address system.

The Kemerovo region will observe three days of mourning starting on Tuesday.

“The mourning will last for three days from March 27 to 29. The corresponding order was signed by Governor Aman Tuleyev. The state flags of the Russian Federation and the flags of the region will be lowered on the whole territory of the Kemerovo region,” an official statement said.

All institutions, organisations, TV and radio companies were asked to cancel recreational activities.

Meanwhile, the head of the city’s fire department Sergei Yakovlev said that the blaze had spread via flammable thermal insulation that complicated the process of extinguishing the inferno.</s>Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday visited the scene of a fire in a shopping mall that killed at least 64 people, and hit out at “criminal negligence” which he said was to blame for the high death toll. Investigators looking into a fire, one of the deadliest in Russia since the break-up of the Soviet Union, said fire exits at the mall had been illegally blocked and the fire alarm system had not functioned properly.

The fire swept through the upper floors of the Winter Cherry shopping centre in the city of Kemerovo, where a cinema complex and children’s play area were located, on Sunday afternoon.

Dozens of children were feared to be among the dead in the tragedy in Kemerovo, a coal-producing region about 3,600 km (2,200 miles) east of Moscow. As well as grief, the fire has stirred public anger about apparent failures in fire safety standards at the mall.

Putin, re-elected last weekend, arrived at the scene on Tuesday and laid flowers at a makeshift memorial to the victims of the fire.

“What’s happening here? This isn’t war, it’s not a spontaneous methane outburst. People came to relax, children. We’re talking about demography and losing so many people,” Putin said in a meeting with ministers in Kemerovo.

“Why? Because of some criminal negligence, because of slovenliness. How could this ever happen?” Putin asked.

The head of Russia’s Investigative Committee, which handles major crimes, said the fire alarm system in the mall had been out of order since March 19 and a security guard had not turned on the public address system to warn people to evacuate the building.

The committee said earlier it was trying to bring in the mall’s owner for questioning.

“Serious violations (of the law) took place when the mall was being built and when it was functioning. The fire exits were blocked,” Svetlana Petrenko, a spokeswoman for the committee, said in a statement on Monday.

Four people have already been detained, including two employees of the firm that services the mall’s fire alarm.

Emergency services said they had extinguished the fire, but later said it had re-ignited in places and that rescuers were struggling to recover bodies because the building’s top floor had collapsed.

It was unclear whether any people were still unaccounted for.

Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova said from the scene that 13 people were in hospital, including an 11-year-old boy in a serious condition. Russian media said the boy had leapt from a window and that both his parents had been killed.

Many of the victims will only be identifiable by DNA testing, officials said.

An unofficial list of those missing circulating on Russian media included more than 20 children, some as young as five.

Mobile phone messages sent from one of those on the list, 13-year-old Maria Moroz, and published by Russian media, said: “We are burning. I love you all. This is perhaps farewell.”

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President Vladimir Putin visits the scene and declares "criminal negligence" responsible for the high death toll.