NEWS

Alyona Topolyanskaya

President Medvedev makes the interior minister personally responsible for investigation into fatal crash involving oil boss.

Public pressure has persuaded president Dmitry Medvedev to open a high-level investigation into a fatal road accident involving Lukoil vice-president Anatoly Barkov.

Medvedev has asked interior minister Rashid Nurgaliyev to take personal charge of the investigation into the smash on Feb. 25 which left two women dead and prompted a wave of protests over the so-called "caste system" on Russia's roads, RIA Novosti reported.

Thirteen public figures, mainly artists, had written to Medvedev urging him to make sure that the investigation into the death of the two doctors is conducted properly. 

They say the Russian public is tired of the "caste system on the roads".  "For the last few years, double standards have ruled the roads in our country, and people with special license plates and flashing lights have become a constant menace to the average driver," states the letter.

Earlier, rapper Noise MC recorded a song called "Give way to the chariot" protesting at Barkov's behaviour.

While there are still no clear answers about what happened in that incident, the speed with which police officers initially cleared Barkov of any responsibility led to furious accusations that the rules of the road do not apply to the rich and powerful in Russia.

The collision, on Moscow's Leninsky Prospekt, left obstetrician Olga Alexandrina, 37, and gynaecologist Vera Sidelnikova, 72, dead.

But when police issued a report blaming Alexandrina's Citroen for the accident - despite conflicting eye-witness reports, including some which alleged that the Lukoil driver removed the license plates from his car after the incident - angry comments on blogs and web forums followed swiftly.

There were immediate calls for a boycott of Lukoil, and for Barkov to be properly questioned about what happened in the accident.

The lack of video footage of the incident has fanned these flames, with Igor Turnov, the lawyer representing the family of the dead women, saying there could be as many as 10 cameras recording traffic on that stretch of road but none of the footage had been made available.