The Ministry of the Russian Federation for Civil Defence, Emergency Situations and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters (), also known as the Ministry of Emergency Situations (; abbreviated MChS, ) or internationally as EMERCOM (derived from "Emergency Control Ministry"), is a Russian government agency overseeing the civil emergency services in Russia. President Boris Yeltsin established EMERCOM on January 10, 1994, though the ministry can be traced back to December 27, 1990, when the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) established the Russian Rescue Corps and assigned it the mission of rapid response to emergencies. History The history of civil defence services in Russia traces to the years of Muscovy rule and the 1649 "Direction on Municipal rescue" decree of Tsar Alexis of Russia which officially raised the Moscow Municipal Fire Service, the first active fire department in Russia. When Peter the Great was Tsar, Saint Petersburg was given its own fire department modeled on Western practices of the time. By 1863 it was transformed, by orders of Tsar Alexander II of Russia, as the first ever professional fire service in Russia and Eastern Europe. Starting in 1932 civil defense matters were performed by the Local Air Defense Units (Местная противовоздушная оборона PBO-C, Mestnaya protivovozdushnaya oborona PVO-S) under the nascent Soviet Air Defence Forces, which were transferred to the NKVD in 1940 (and served with distinction, together with the NKVD Fire Services Command founded in 1918, in the Great Patriotic War). In 1960 it was returned to the Ministry of Defence as a service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces (the Civil Defence Forces of the Ministry of Defense) and a directly reporting agency, while the MVD retained the firefighting service. In the aftermath of the events of the 1988 Armenian earthquake and the Chernobyl disaster, on July 17, 1990 a directive decision of the Presidium of The Supreme Council of Russian Socialist Soviet Republic led to the formation of the Russian Rescue Corps (Российский корпус спасателей), which eventually was formed by the Soviet Government on December 27, 1990. This date is marked as the official anniversary of the EMERCOM. On April 17, 1991 the Presidium of the Supreme Council of Russia appointed Sergei Shoigu as Chairman of the State Committee for Extraordinary Situations (Государственный Комитет по чрезвычайным ситуациям, ГКЧС), which succeeded the RRC. On November 19, 1991 the State Committee was merged with the Headquarters for Civil Defense of