Today Russia celebrates the professional holiday Emergency Rescuers' Day, established by the presidential decree of November 26, 1995. On this day, in 1990, the resolution of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR "On the formation of the Russian Rescue Corps on the Rights of the State Committee of the RSFSR" was adopted.
On November 19, 1991, on the basis of the RSFSR State Committee for Emergency Situations and Civil Defense of the RSFSR, the State Committee for Civil Defence, Emergencies and Disaster Management under the President of the RSFSR (EMERCOM of the RSFSR) was formed.
On January 10, 1994, the State Committee for Emergency Situations was transformed into the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Civil Defense, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters (Russian Emergencies Ministry).
Currently, the Ministry of Emergency Situations comprises military and civilian rescuers, search and rescue teams, medicine and aviation, specialists in the field of monitoring and forecasting of emergency situations with a high level of technical equipment, including robots. Since May 2012 the Ministry of Emergency Situations has been headed by Vladimir Puchkov.
President Vladimir Putin congratulated all employees and veterans of the department on their professional holiday. "Over the past years the Ministry has carried out great, serious work on the creation of a system of crisis management, the formation of territorial agencies, forces and means of operative reaction," the head of state noted.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev also congratulated rescuers on their professional holiday. "Modern life is unimaginable without the Ministry of Emergency Situations. Its employees are the first in the place of tragedy, extinguishing fires, fighting natural and man-made disasters, delivering humanitarian aid. For a quarter of century you have saved tens of thousands of lives, and this is the main result of your work," he said in a message posted on the website of the Russian government.
