the USSR (under the Ministry of Defense) to create the State Committee of the Russian Federation for Civil Defence Matters, Extraordinary Situations and the Liquidation of Natural Disasters (Государственный комитет по делам гражданской обороны, чрезвычайным ситуациям и ликвидации последствий стихийных бедствий при Президенте РСФСР) and was subordinated to the President of Russia. On January 10, 1994 the State committee became part of the Government of Russia and the ministry was named The Ministry for the Affairs of Civil Defence, Emergency Situations and Disaster Relief, with Sergei Shoigu as a minister. On January 1, 2002, The Russian State Fire Service, the national fire service, became part of the ministry with 278,000 firefighters, removed from Ministry of Internal Affairs control after 84 years. On May 12, 2012, Vladimir Puchkov was appointed as the new minister, replacing Shoigu who was later appointed as Defense Minister after a brief stint as Governor of Moscow Oblast. On July 1, 2016, an EMERCOM firefighting Il-76 crashed after taking off from Irkutsk International airport while on its way to dump water as to help douse wildfires in Siberia. Duties According to an EMERCOM publication, the Ministry is an agency of federal executive power with the following tasks: developing proposals and initiatives in the sphere of State policy on issues within the Ministry's competence; managing the civil defence and search and rescue Service in the Russian Federation; providing for the functioning and further development of the Russian System of Disaster Management (RSDM); directing activities aimed at eliminating the consequences of large-scale disasters, catastrophes and other emergencies; conducting special submarine activities; supervising the use of finance resources allocated to the Government for disaster management and response; organizing the training of the population, and governing agencies and the RSDM forces for disaster management and response; and organizing international cooperation in the fields of the Ministry's competency. Ministers Sergei Shoigu The first Minister in charge of EMERCOM was Sergei Shoigu. He was appointed by President Yeltsin in November 1991 as Chairman of the State Committee of the Russian Federation for Civil Defence Matters, Extraordinary Situations and the Liquidation of Natural Disasters. Shoigu was given the rank of Major General in October 1994, and his committee became a ministry in January 1994. President Yeltsin showed his faith in the importance of EMERCOM by designating Minister Shoigu a member of the Russian Security Council by Presidential Decree on February 1, 1994. In May