“At 00.00 Moscow time on 23.08.2019, 136 forest fires were operating on the territory of the Russian Federation on an area of ​​43,976 hectares, which were actively suppressed,” RIA Novosti reports.

Earlier, the acting head of Rosleskhoz, Mikhail Klinov, said that the economic damage from natural fires since the beginning of 2019 amounted to 7 billion rubles.

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.