A newly married couple walks along Red Square amidst heavy smog, caused by peat fires in nearby forests, with the mausoleum of Soviet state founder Vladimir Lenin in the background, in central Moscow August 7, 2010. Dense clouds of acrid smoke from peat and forest fires choked Russia's capital on Friday, seeping into homes and offices, diverting planes and prompting exhausted Muscovites to wear surgical masks to filter the foul air. REUTERS / Sergei Karpukhin

By Conor Humphries and Daniel Flynn in Paris; Editing by Jon Hemming
Sun Aug 8, 2010 2:00pm EDT MOSCOW (Reuters) – Moscow doctors said they were wary of diagnosing patients with heat and smoke-related illnesses out of fear they will lose their jobs, hinting at Russia’s long record of covering up the impact of disasters. Many Russians have criticized the government’s slow response to the peat and forest fires that have engulfed swathes of Russia and left a harmful smoke cloud that has choked the capital for several days. The opposition accused authorities of being in denial. Powerful Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov, notably silent during the crisis since he left for holiday on August 2, was returning on Sunday because of “the developing situation in the city due to fires,” news agencies quoted his spokesman as saying. Fires caused by the hottest weather since records began 130 years ago have left thousands homeless and prompted officials to warn against venturing outdoors in Moscow, where flights were diverted and residents wore surgical masks. The Emergencies Ministry said on Sunday the area forest and peat fires in the Moscow region had tripled since Friday; currently at 210 hectares (519 acres), up from 65.7. France, responding to Moscow’s plea for aid, offered 120 men, 37 vehicles, 15 motorpumps and a bombardier DASH water plane, the French presidency said in a statement on Sunday. An unnamed doctor at a Moscow clinic wrote on his site that the bodies of those who had died from heatstroke and smoke ailments over the last few days were piling up in the basement, as the “fridges are full,” leaving a “rotting stench.” He added the situation was similar at hospitals across Moscow. “(But) we can’t give that diagnosis — we don’t want to be sacked. We have families to feed,” he said on his site here; comments that were were carried by several Russian media outlets on Sunday. He added that if a state of emergency were declared in Moscow as in other regions, doctors have to be paid double. Another doctor at a major hospital, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that staff had been instructed by senior management to not link patients’ illnesses with the heatwave. A spokeswoman for the Moscow city government declined to comment on the doctors’ claims.  …

Accusations of denial as fires and smoke kill in Russia