Retrained in managers

Gennady Onishchenko was exempted from the duties of the head of Rospotrebnadzor in connection with the expiration of an urgent annual agreement concluded with him upon reaching the age of 60. He is appointed assistant to the head of government. The relevant orders were signed by Dmitry Medvedev, said RIA Novosti press secretary of the Prime Minister Natalya Timakova.

“Exactly a year ago, when concluding this contract, Prime Minister Medvedev suggested Gennady Onishchenko after this agreement to go to work in the government apparatus to the position of assistant prime minister,” Timakova explained.

The acting head of Rospotrebnadzor was appointed by the current deputy Onishchenko Anna Popova. As Timakova emphasized, the final decision on the candidacy of the head of the department will be made later.

Earlier on Wednesday, Vedomosti, citing its own sources, reported that Onishchenko would be dismissed after Medvedev returned from China.

On the eve of the resignation of Onishchenko, Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets said . She explained that the head of Rospotrebnadzor has expired the term of office, and also added that Popova would take his place.

Onishchenko reacted to the Golodets’s statement painfully , calling her a “strange character”. According to him, the Deputy Prime Minister "is not a number of people making a decision." The fact of the decision on the resignation of Onishchenko also refuted Timakov. She stated that Onishchenko really expires the term of stay in the civil service, but the decision to remain in this post is in the competence of Dmitry Medvedev.

Kommersant also reported on Onishchenko’s resignation as a resolved issue. According to the publication, it is associated with the conflict of his department with Rosselkhoznadzor. Onishchenko opposed the restriction of the powers of Rospotrebnadzor to control finished products. On October 9, the official defiantly left the meeting of the Eurasian Economic Commission in Kazan, where it was announced that Russia was fundamentally agreeing to reduce the powers of Onishchenko’s department and transfer them to Rosselkhoznadzor.

Onishchenko gained scandalous fame as a result of mass prohibitions on the sale of products from a number of countries in Russia. Experts and the media repeatedly noted that the restrictions were introduced in relation to precisely those countries with which Russia had political or economic conflicts at that moment. Among such prohibitions restrictions on the import of mineral water and wine from Georgia, the ban on Moldavian wines , as well as nuts and dried fruits from Tajikistan and dairy goods from Lithuania.

In addition, Onishchenko became famous for a number of extravagant statements. In particular, he accused Georgia of intentionally casting wild pigs to Russia, and also accused this country of developing a biological weapon directed against Russia. He also spoke out for the ban on the use of kefir at the wheel, offered the Russians to refuse to use land (“Why is there this fish affected by helminthic invasions?”), Advised to destroy the raven (“Ravens are feathered wolves, and they must be mercilessly destroyed”), and also recommended that they refuse to participate in rallies , as this creates an additional risk of the disease.

Onishchenko headed Rospotrebnadzor since 2004, and since 1996 he has been the main sanitary doctor of Russia.