Ingush leader sacks govt

Ingushetia leader Yunus-Bek Yevkurov sacked his entire government for poor work, his office said yesterday, as the volatile Russian Caucasus region battles violence and corruption.

“The reason for the dismissal is unsatisfactory work in the social and economic spheres, in the agricultural industry and corruption,” the office of the regional president said in a statement.

A new cabinet will be announced “in the nearest future”, Yevkurov’s spokesman Kaloi Akhilgov said.

At a government meeting broadcast on Russian state television, a stony-faced Yevkurov told officials he had no choice.

“I am forced to resort to these measures,” the leader told the officials, who were pictured listlessly sitting at the meeting.

Alexei Vorobyov - an ethnic Russian and until now head of Ingushetia’s security council - was appointed acting head of government, Yevkurov’s office said.

A former paratroop commander, Yevkurov was named by the Kremlin to lead a drive against corruption and militant violence in Ingushetia.

In June, a bomb attack on his motorcade left Yevkurov with serious injuries. Upon his return to work in August, he fired three senior officials, including the deputy prime minister.

The same month, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sacked the region’s interior ministry chief after a suicide attack that killed more than 20 people and injured over 100.