PRAGUE -- A dismissed Ingushetian presidential administration official denies he was fired by President Yunus-Bek Yevkurov after challenging the Russian republic's prime minister, RFE/RL's North Caucasus Service reports.
Media outlets reported that Vladimir Borshchev challenged the transparency of a tender called by Prime Minister Aleksei Vorobyov, and that Yevkurov took Vorovyov's side and dismissed Borshchev over the issue.
But Borshchev released an official statement on Monday denying that explanation for his firing and asked the media not to report false information.
Borshchev had been appointed head of the presidential administration in April, and Vorobyov named prime minister in late October.
Borshchev's departure leaves just one other ethnic Russian within the presidential administration in addition to Vorobyov.
Prior to his appointment as Yevkurov's chief of staff, Borschev served in the central apparatus of Russia's Federal Security Services (FSB).