Emergencies Minister Yevgeny Zinichev died trying to save a man

"It is with a heavy heart we share with you that in Norilsk, being on duty during the interdepartmental exercise to protect the Arctic zone from emergencies, saving a person's life, Emergencies Minister Yevgeny Zinichev tragically died", - the press service said.

The source of RBC notes that Zinichev died while trying to save an operator who slipped on the edge of a cliff. The information was confirmed by RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan on her Twitter. "He and the operator were standing on the edge of the ledge. The operator slipped and fell into the water. There were enough eyewitnesses - no one even had time to figure out what happened, as Zinichev rushed into the water after the man who had fallen and crashed against a protruding stone", - she wrote. The source of the publication specified that the operator died also.

The minister was 55 years old. He headed the Ministry of Emergency Situations since May 2018. In this position, he replaced Vladimir Puchkov, who resigned after a fire in the Zimnyaya Vishnya shopping center in Kemerovo.

Zinichev served in the KGB of the USSR, worked in the Federal Security Service. Since 2006, he has been the personal adjutant of Russian President Vladimir Putin. In June 2015, he became the head of the FSB Directorate for the Kaliningrad Region, and a year later became the acting governor of the region. Before being appointed head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, he was also appointed to the post of deputy director of the FSB.