Russian President Vladimir Putin, Alexander Kalashnikov, the head of Russia’s prison administration (FSIN) has been removed from his post and replaced by former Deputy Interior Minister Arkady Gostev, MTI reported. The president signed a decree to that effect on Thursday.
Kalashnikov, 57, who was appointed commander of the FSIN in October 2019, has served in state security agencies since 1987, and previously was the regional head of the Federal Security Service (FSB) in Komi and Krasnoyarsk.
His successor, 60-year-old Arkady Gostev, began his career in internal affairs agencies in 1981, and then became the head of the Department of Investigation of Organized Crime of the Internal Administration Directorate of the Southern Moscow Region. From 2006 he was head of the Public Order Department of the General Directorate of Internal Affairs of Moscow, then from 2010 he was deputy head of the capital, and in 2012 he was appointed deputy interior minister.
The reason for the personnel changes was not disclosed in the decree, but local media said it may have been linked to the scandal that broke out in September about the FSZIN system. The scandal erupted after a video clip of the torture of prisoners was published in the local media in the No. 1 tuberculosis hospital in the Saratov province. An investigation was launched into the case.
More videos were released later. According to Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov, 12 cases related to torture were investigated in the hospital. The TASZSZ A spokesman for the head of state, Dmitry Peskov, said that Russian President Vladimir Putin was aware of torture in prisons.