Novaya Gazeta reports that Sergei Tsivilev, Governor of Russia’s Kemerovo region, has declared that he has not received a single rouble in income between January and March 2018, despite selling 70% of shares in a coal-mining company after the Kemerovo shopping mall blaze on 25th March. The information was taken from his official declaration of income, published on the regional administration’s website.

According to the declaration, Tsivilev does not possess any objects of real estate; only owning a Spyder BRP Can-Am Motorcycle. His wife, meanwhile, earned a whopping 12 million roubles, disclosing ownership of three spacious flats (170 square metres) and two plots of land spanning 37 and 1.7 thousand square metres respectively. To add to her impressive collection, she declared three parking places, three Mercedes Benz vehicles and a Yamaha snowmobile.

Tsivilev previously featured in the media when he was filmed pleading for forgiveness after a fire at the ‘Winter Cherry’ shopping centre in the city of Kemerovo claimed at least 60 victims, in large part children. The governor sank to his knees in front of the distraught crowd to beg for forgiveness, but the sincerity of his apology was undermined by his actions the day before. Tsivilev accused Kemerovo resident Igor Vostrikov, who lost his wife and three children in the inferno, of ‘using sorrow for PR’. Vostrikov had previously delivered a fiery and passionate interview criticising the authorities in the wake of the crisis.

Sergei Tsivilev was appointed acting governor of Russia’s Kemerovo region on 1st April following the resignation of Aman Tuleyev, who stepped down in response to deadly fire at ‘The Winter Cherry’. In a video message to the city’s residents, he announced that “it is morally impossible to continue as governor under such a heavy load.” Tuleyev now heads the Kemerovo region’s Council of People’s Deputies.

In March, Tsivilev, general director of the coal-mining company ‘Kolmar’ became the region’s vice governor. The nascent politician owned 70% of ‘Kolmar’, which produces coking coal in Yakutia. The remaining 30% of the company belongs to the ‘Volga Group’ of Gennady Timchenko, according to Russian news outlet RBC. The outlet also confirmed that Tsivilev had completely cut ties with the company before his appointment to public service.