Emergency Situations Minister Zinichev dies in line of duty - ministry

MOSCOW. Sept 8 (Interfax) - Russian Emergency Situations Minister Yevgeny Zinichev has died while saving a person's life during an exercise, the Emergency Situations Ministry told Interfax on Wednesday.

"The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry regrets to say that Emergency Situations Minister Yevgeny Zinichev has tragically died in the line of duty, while saving a person's life in the course of an interdepartmental exercise practicing the mitigation of emergencies in the Arctic zone," the ministry said.

Zinichev was born in Leningrad on August 18, 1966. He was assigned to the Northern Fleet as a conscript after graduating from high school.

Later on, he graduated from the St. Petersburg Institute of Business and Law with a degree in economics and finance.

Zinichev was serving with the Soviet KGB between 1987 and 1991, and joined the Federal Guard Service in 1991.

In 2006-2015, he was a member of the bodyguard division of the Russian presidential security service.

He was retrained in the Russian General Staff Academy in 2012-2013.

Zinichev took the position of deputy head of the Federal Security Service's Antiterrorism Service in 2014.

In June 2015, he became head of the Federal Security Service's department in the Kaliningrad region as a replacement for Alexander Kozlov.

On July 28, 2016, Zinichev was appointed acting governor of the Kaliningrad region.

On October 7, 2016, he became a deputy director of the Federal Security Service.

On May 18, 2018, Zinichev was appointed emergency situations minister.

In December 2018, he was awarded the military rank of colonel general.

Following the government resignation in January 2020, he was again confirmed as the emergency situations minister in the government of Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on January 21, 2020.

On December 21, 2020, Zinichev was awarded the military rank of general of the army.