President Putin for federal centre's right to get rid of negligent local executives

Vladimir Putin has expressed support for legislating a mechanism whereby local executives who bring their regions to a crisis could be removed from office under force majeure circumstances.

The Russian head of state set forth his position at a conference in Saransk on the social and economic development of the Volga Federal District.

Putin stressed the need for elaborating the force-majeure mechanism when speaking of the situation in the Ulyanovsk region (Volga area).

"We should scrutinize the powers of those who have brought the region to such a state," the president said, adding that there must also be a pattern of action for the federal crisis management centre.