KEMEROVO, June 7 (RIA Novosti) - The head of the Russian technological safety regulator in a West Siberian region tendered his resignation Thursday, citing a disagreement with his bosses' policies, the Kemerovo Region administration said.
Andrei Malakhov's decision follows two methane blasts that left 150 dead in local mines over the past three months. But Malakhov warned it was too early to discuss the reasons behind his resignation because it has not been officially accepted yet.
Malakhov said he would discuss it with Konstantin Pulikovsky, the head of the Federal Service for the Oversight of the Environment, Technology and Nuclear Management, when he arrives in the Kemerovo Region later Thursday.
The federal regulator announced Wednesday that the cause of the latest blast at the Yubileinaya mine in the Kemerovo Region, which killed 39 people May 24, was tampering with the mine's safety systems. This is the same cause as cited for the previous explosion at the Ulyanovskaya mine, which claimed 110 lives March 19.
