All news

Reports about Yakunin’s resignation false - PM’s spokesperson

The Federal Guard Service and the Federal Security Service are investigating the incident

MOSCOW, June 19 (Itar-Tass) - Reports about Russian Railways President Vladimir Yakunin’s resignation are false, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s spokesperson Natalia Timakova said on Wednesday, June 19.

“The report about Russian Railways President Vladimir Yakunin’s resignation, designed to look like an official statement of the government press service, was false,” she said.

“The report about Yakunin’s resignation contained grammatical mistakes and was sent from an electronic address camouflaged as an official letter from the government press service,” Timakova said.

“The Federal Guard Service and the Federal Security Service are investigating the incident to determine the origin of this report,” she said.

Earlier in the day, reports quoted the government press service as saying that Medvedev had dismissed Yakunin of his own accord and appointed Alexander Misharin the new head of Russian Railways Company (RZD).

RZD spokesperson Alexander Pirkov told ITAR-TASS that these reports were wrong.

He said it might have been done by computer hackers who sent the report on behalf of the government press service.

“The report was received by all leading international and Russian news agencies,” he said.