A senior regional official in Siberia has doubled down on suggestions that a demonstration over a deadly shopping-mall fire that killed dozens of children was a political provocation aimed at undermining authorities.
The remarks made by Vladimir Chernov, first deputy governor of Russia’s Kemerovo region, on March 28 came a day after thousands of demonstrators gathered in the city of Kemerovo to demand answers and accountability for the March 25 fire there that killed 64 people, including dozens of children.