Putin: Deadly blaze exposed corruption

MOSCOW: Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin declared a crusade on corrupt bureaucrats after the country's most deadly blaze claimed the lives of 135 people in a nightclub fire in the Russian city of Perm.

"All the vices of our bureaucracy were exposed by this tragedy. Its incompetence, corruption and links to businesses," Putin told a late-night cabinet meeting on Thursday after a visit on Tuesday to Perm where he lambasted local officials.

The entire government of the region resigned after he left.