OREANDA-NEWS. July 1, 2011. Minister of the Interior Rashid Nurgaliyev arrived in Petrozavodsk on June 23. Head of Karelia Andrei Nelidov welcomed him in the airport.

Rashid Nurgaliyev has arrived in Karelia to take part in a regular meeting of the Joint Collegium of the Russian and Belarusian Ministries of the Interior held in the republic. Because of the air accident, Minister of the Interior has chaired an operational meeting devoted to activity of the law-enforcement agencies of the republic concerning relieving the consequences of the tragedy.

Viktor Kiryanov, Deputy Head of the MOI of Russia for Security in Transportation and Transport Infrastructure Facilities, Vadim Kashirin, Head of the Directorate in Transportation of the MOI of the Russian Federation for the North-Western Federal District, head of the Karelia Police Mikhail Zakomaldin and other officers of the MOI have attended the meeting of the emergency operations center which has started with a minute of silence in remembrance of the victims.

The meeting concidered issues concerning organizartion of operation of the law machinery of the republic upon receiving the information about the tragedy and the measures of reaction.

According to the Minister of the Interior of Karelia Mikhail Zakomaldin, information on crash of the plane has was reported by the duty police division of Prionezhsky region at 11:54 p.m. Operation plan of the the Republic's MOI in case of emergency was adopted promptly, a command center was set up, officers of the Ministry, fire detachments, accident-assistant squads were sent to the site, cordons were put round the scene.

The first detachments of Karelia's MOI, 60 officers, arrived upon the scene within 17 minutes after the signal about the accident, Mikhail Zakomaldin said.

As it was mentioned at the session, Head of Karelia Andrei Nelidov, Minister of the Interior of Karelia Mikhail Zakomaldin, Prosecutor of the republic German Shtadler, head of the Central Administration of the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Civil Defense, Emergency Management and Natural Disasters Response in the Republic of Karelia Vladimir Gusev also went to the scene immediately.

The meeting has also discussed work on relieving the consequences of the plane crash, identification of the victims, notifying the relatives, organization of accomodation of coming relatives and friends of victims of the plane crash in Petrozavodsk and other issues.

Summing up the meeting, Russia's Minister of the Interior said he rated high activities of the Ministry of the Interior of Karelia in this emergency situation. He has maentioned that Head of the republic also thanked officers of the Ministry of the Interior of the republic for their efficient and operative activity arrangement, arrival at the site of the tragedy, its guarding, and work related to identification of the victims.

– Attention now should be concentrated on enforcement of law and order in the city and rendering assistance to families of the victims and the injured, – Rashid Nurgaliyev emphasized. – Your task is to provide maximum of attention to the tragedy that has happened in Karelia and do you best in these times of trouble to help people.