By Conor Humphries and Daniel Flynn in Paris; Editing by Jon HemmingSun 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. […]
Moscow, Aug 7, (RHC).- The Russian Emergencies Minister is warning of possible radiation risks, as wildfires approach closer to the area affected by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. According to reports from Russia, the main fear is that the fires, which are moving further south of Moscow, could disturb and spread the contamination buried in the […]
By Lin Jenkins, The ObserverSunday 8 August 2010 Russian troops dug a five-mile canal yesterday to protect a nuclear arms site from wildfires caused by a record heatwave. The forest and peat fires have killed at least 52 people, made more than 4,000 homeless, diverted many flights and pushed air pollution in Moscow to six […]
IANS7 August 2010 Visibility in some parts of Moscow dropped to below 50 metres and air pollution reached more than six times normal levels Saturday, as Russia battled more than 300 new wildfires in a span of 24 hours alone, the Interfax news agency reported. Most of the new fires were rapidly extinguished, the Civil […]
By Richard Galpin, BBC6 August 2010 Russian health officials are warning people in Moscow to stay inside and avoid physical exertion as smog from the worst wildfires in modern Russian history smothers the city. Haze and smoke are spreading through Moscow’s streets, even seeping into the Metro network, and some people are wearing face masks […]
By Richard Galpin6 August 2010 The thick blanket of smog that has shrouded Moscow as peat fires continue to burn just outside the city has worsened. The smog has disrupted air traffic at two international airports in Moscow – Domodedovo and Vnukovo. Many Russians are wearing masks as the temperature rises close to 40C (104F). […]
By Ekaterina Shatalova and Maria Kolesnikova Aug 6, 2010 6:57 AM PT Acrid smoke from forest and peat-bog fires east of Moscow shrouded the city in smoke, causing flight delays and raising pollution to “very dangerous” levels. As many as 140 flights were delayed today as visibility at the capital’s airports was reduced to as […]
By ANDREW E. KRAMERPublished: August 5, 2010 MOSCOW — Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin banned all exports of grain on Thursday after millions of acres of Russian wheat withered in a severe drought, driving up prices around the world and pushing them to their highest level in two years in the United States. The move […]
By Shaun Walker in Mokhovoye Thursday, 5 August 2010 “All around us, everything was on fire,” says Vladimir Anuryev. “Houses, trees, the ground itself – it was all in flames. Even the asphalt on the road seemed to be on fire. It was like descending into hell.” The 73-year-old has lived in Mokhovoye, a village […]
Hundreds of fires burned across western Russia on August 2, 2010, but it is the smoke that conveys the magnitude of the disaster in this true-color image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite. Dense gray-brown smoke extends across the width of this image, a distance of about 1,700 kilometers (1,000 […]