Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin sacked a senior health official for public criticism of a draft law introducing state regulation of pharmaceutical pricing, the government said on Saturday.

The bill designed to cut prices for medicines has been criticized by many, including in the Russian government, as running counter to free market principles and as able to nurture black- market production of copied pharmaceuticals.

Nikolai Yurgel, head of the federal service overseeing healthcare and the welfare sector, was dismissed for "violating law on civil service," the press office said.

Yurgel "expressed his disagreement with the position of the health ministry and the government, siding with the experts who have not studied the bill in detail or have openly lobbied against it," the government said in a statement.

The government said the bill, passed by parliament in the first reading, sets tougher quality requirements for medicines, introduces state regulation of prices, and ensures equal conditions for foreign and domestic pharmacies on the Russian market.

MOSCOW, February 6 (RIA Novosti)