10 Russian police generals replaced

MOSCOW, April 1 (UPI) -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has removed 10 police generals, the Kremlin said Friday.

ITAR-Tass reported eight of the men were heads of regional police forces. They were: Maj. Gen. Viktor Bulushev of Kursk, Lt. Gen. Yuri Gorlov of Perm, Maj. Gen. Boris Timonichenko of Kurgan, Lt. Gen. Oleg Khotin of Voronezh, Maj. Gen. Nikolai Gudozhnikov of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area, Maj. Gen. Anatoly Zhuravlyov of the Republic of Kalmykia, Maj. Gen. Nikolai Larkov of the Republic of Mordovia and Maj. Gen. Yakov Stakhov of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).

Also out of office are Maj. Gen. Viktor Berdnikov, deputy chief in Sverdlovsk, and Maj. Gen. Nikolai Mikhailov, head of the Russian Interior Ministry's Barnaul Law Institute.

The Interior Ministry said Gorlov, Gudozhnikov and Zhuravlyov offered their resignations some time ago.

Mikhailov lost his job in a reorganization of the Interior Ministry's educational institutions.

Stakhov, Larkov, Timonichenko and Bulushev have reached retirement age.

Berdnikov's post was abolished and Khotin left for health reasons.