AFP

MOSCOW RUSSIA on Sunday announced the arrest of three local officials for negligence during flooding that killed 172 people and politically undermined President Vladimir Putin on his return to a third term.

The Investigative Committee revealed the surprise detentions during a lightning visit to the devastated Black Sea village of Krymsk by Putin’s powerful domestic security mastermind Alexander Bastrykin.

The three Krymsk officials and a nearby town mayor now face seven years in prison — a sentence rarely issued in such cases, underlining the urgency with which Putin is treating the first big disaster to strike since his May return.

“In the course of the investigation, (Krymsk district head) Vasily Krutko, (Krymsk mayor) Vladimir Ulanovsky and (local emergency response chief) Viktor Zhdanov have been detained,” a statement said.

It added that nearby Nizhnebakansk village chief Irina Ryabchenko may be detained later while facing the same charges of failing to properly alert locals about the possible dangers of a fastapproaching heavy thunderstorm.

Most of the victims died in their sleep in pre-dawn flooding that also destroyed the property of some 30,000 people.

Putin himself foreshadowed possible sackings when he raced to the little southern village for the second time in just a few days on July 15.

State television then showed a remarkable sequence of some 20 minutes during which Putin patiently fielded questions from irate locals who expressed repeated mistrust with official accounts of why the floods came.

Many complained of hearing no flood warning alarms and receiving only text messages on some mobile phones — which stopped working as the storm progressed.

News reports have also cited locals as saying that those applying for emergency assistance had to sign documents stating they had received due notice about a potential flood.

“People here think that there was no early warning — despite the fact that the previous head of the administration said that there was one,” Putin told local officials after being briefed by the residents of Krymsk.

“The Investigative Committee must issue an objective assessment of the actions of all officials,” he said at the time.

Putin’s get-tough image suffered a bruising blow at the start of his first term as president in 2000 when he holidayed while the nation watched in horror as 118 seamen perished in the sinking of the nuclear submarine Kursk.

The KGB chief has worked hard to show himself in command of the chronic disasters that have since clouded his 12-year rule.

Post-flood recovery work has remained a top item on state television news for most of the past two weeks, in a departure from official media treatment of some other past disasters.

The official Investigative Committee meanwhile said that the four officials stand accused of “violating people’s constitutionally guaranteed right to life and the legally protected interests of society and the state.”