The presidential decree declares 21 March 2007 to be a day of mourning for the tragic events in Russia: a plane crash in the Samara airport, a gas explosion in the Ulianovskaia mine in the Kemerovo region, and a fire in a seniors’ home in the Krasnodar region.
National flags will fly at half-mast throughout Russia on this day of mourning. Television and radio broadcasting corporations as well as cultural establishments are asked to cancel their entertainment programmes.
The Russian government and the bodies of state power in the Samara, Kemerovo and Krasnodar regions have been charged with forming a commission to determine the causes of these tragic events and to assist the families of the victims.