“According to the regional forestry dispatch services, over the past day in Russia 29 forest fires on an area of 13,875 hectares have been eliminated,” the statement said.
It is specified that at 00:00 Moscow time on August 20, 85 forest fires were operating on the territory of Russia on an area of 99 thousand 777 ha.
Earlier, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree on the allocation of about 6 billion rubles from the reserve fund for extinguishing fires in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Krasnoyarsk Territory and Irkutsk Region to the Federal Forestry Agency, the Ministry of Emergencies and the Ministry of Defense.
Grigory Kuksin, expert of the standing commission on environmental issues of the Human Rights Council under the President of Russia, head of the Greenpeace Russia fire prevention program, commented on the situation with forest fires in the country in an interview with NSN.