The Russian government will pay compensation of
one million roubles to families of the victims of the Nevsky Express derailment,
First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov announced to Prime Minister Vladimir
Putin. Each family will receive 300,000 roubles from the federal budget, with
the remaining 700,000 roubles to be paid by regional authorities and rail
transport company Russian Railways.
At his meeting with Zubkov,
Putin said he sees a similarity between the deadly crash and September's
derailment of the Tyumen-Baku freight train in Russia's
North Caucasus republic
of Dagestan. "We remember
that a similar terrorist act attempt occurred in Dagestan.
There is only one way to provide the infrastructure security - that is, to work
to prevent such cases," Putin said.
The prime minister's reaction
to the Nevsky Express tragedy was instant, Putin's press secretary Dmitry
Peskov said in answer to journalists' questions yesterday. "Putin ordered the establishment
of a governmental commission, headed by First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor
Zubkov, to investigate the blast and charged him with the task of providing
necessary aid to the victims' families and the injured," Peskov said.
Putin feels deeply for the
train crash victims, Peskov said, adding that the prime minister has taken the
tragedy personally.
Larisa Kaftan
