Following orders given by Ural Federal District Deputy Attorney General Yuriy Zolotov, large scale inspections of how legitimate the business activity of enterprises and economic entities located in Ural Federal District and dealing in production and distribution of drinking water is were carried out by the Ural Federal District Public Prosecution Department alongside with its regional divisions and local authorities, as the spokesperson for Mr Zolotov says.

Within the framework of the inspections, numerous instances of outright violation of sanitary and hygienic regulations and requirements were revealed. To make matters worse, it turned out that some of these cases had been left unheeded by Rospotrebnadzor’s (federal consumption control committee) employees as well as by other responsible officers; not only did these functionaries not prevent the violations but they also went as far as to connive at them. That is why over 600 functionaries have been charged with various claims, and 42 people are to be tried in court for particularly serious offences: their charge is production, storing, shipping or distribution of unsafe goods and products, as Article 238 of Russian Federation Criminal Code has it. Some of the indicted are already being tried.