President Medvedev declared this at a meeting with Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov held in expanded format.
Chief of Armed Forces Engineer Troops Yury Balkhovitin, chief of General Rocket and Artillery Directorate of the Defence Ministry Oleg Chikirev, acting head of armament and deputy armament commander of Volga-Urals Military District Vyacheslav Khalitov, and acting head of Volga-Urals Military District Engineer Troops Alexander Bobrakov have been dismissed from military service.
The Supreme Commander instructed the Defence Ministry to dismiss and impose other measures of disciplinary liability in respect of other responsible persons from the Ministry's central office and the Volga-Urals Military District.
The meeting was attended by Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Volga Federal District Grigory Rapota, Ulyanovsk Region Governor Sergei Morozov, head of Armed Forces Armament Vladimir Popovkin, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy Admiral Vladimir Vysotsky, and chief military prosecutor Sergei Fridinsky.
On November 13, 2009, President Medvedev instructed the Ministry of Defence and Emergencies Ministry to take all necessary measures to mitigate the effects of the fire and explosions in the ammunition depot.
On that day fire occurred in the Arsenal 31 depot where ammunition was being stored. The fire killed two soldiers and injured 60 people, among which six were hospitalised. According to preliminary information, the fire was caused by a violation of technological process for the disposal of ammunition.
On November 23, while loading live ammunition at Arsenal 31 in Ulyanovsk one of the shells detonated triggering explosion of munitions loaded into a lorry. Two officers and six soldiers on contract were killed, and two were hospitalised.