Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called today for tighter state control of coal mining to avoid a repeat of a blast that killed 66 people this month, according to Reuters. Twenty-four people are still missing after a methane gas blast on May 8 ripped through Siberia's Raspadskaya coal mine, in which billionaire Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich has a stake. Speaking via video link to Abramovich and local officials assembled near the mine, Putin said the system of ensuring mine safety is broken: Funds spent on mine safety in Russia have increased nine-fold in a decade, but deaths have not declined. "Where specifically was this money invested?" Putin asked. A safety watchdog directly answerable to the government should have the power to shut mines and sanction managers without a court order, he said. Payments to relatives of miners killed in accidents, largely voluntary now, should be specified by law. Tensions are running high in the town where the blast took place, with riot police called in last Saturday to disperse miners and their families, who had blocked a railway line to protest over low pay and poor safety at the mine. In a gesture to residents of Mezhdurechensk, 3,000 km (1,850 miles) east of Moscow, Putin ordered that all Raspadskaya miners receive full pay while the mine is out of operation.
