Russia 100811 Basic Political Developments

Half of Russia’s wildfires contained

http://english.ruvr.ru/2010/08/11/15305953.html
Aug 11, 2010 11:41 Moscow Time

The total area of devastating wildfires in Russia has halved in the last 24 hours, the Emergency Ministry said. There are still 612 forest and peat bog fires burning across the country, on a territory of 93,000 hectares, which is almost half of the 174,000 hectares registered on August 10th.

165,000 people are involved in fighting Russia’s wildfires, as well as 26,000 vehicles, including the aircraft. A number of foreign countries offered atheir ssistance in dealing with the disaster and sent over 550 rescue workers to Russia.
Russian wildfires raise radiation fears

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iX-16FttPkCulMdckFjFJyOJCXlAD9HH58C00

(AP) – 38 minutes ago

MOSCOW — Activists are warning that the mroe than 600 wildfires still burning in Russia could move into the areas affected by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and spread harmful radiation.

Environmental group Greenpeace says the wildfires, sparked by the hottest summer ever registered in Russia, could engulf the regions still affected by radioactive fallout from the 1986 Chernobyl accident.

The Emergency Situations Ministry's branch in the western Bryansk region that suffered worst from the Chernobyl catastrophe in what is now Ukraine said Wednesday it spotted several wildfires in the area over the past few days and quickly put them out. It said it increased patrols to prevent more blazes.

Emergency oficials say that about 165,000 people and 39 firefighting aircraft are battling blazes nationwide.

Russian food prices spike as hundreds of fires burn on

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/338902,hundreds-fires-burn-on.html
Posted : Wed, 11 Aug 2010 08:04:53 GMT By : dpa

Moscow - Food prices in Russia are registering a spike of 15 to 20 percent, according to newspaper reports Wednesday, as the drought and wildfires start to impact on the economy.

With crops destroyed, and logistics and supply lines affected by the out of control blazes, many foodstuffs are going up in price, according to the Rossiyskaya Gazeta.

That could lead inflation to increase beyond the 6 to 7 per cent expected by the government by year's end, it said.

Firefighters have yet to get the devastating blazes under control. Although they extinguished 300 fires over the previous day, 290 new ones also ignited, the Civil Defence Ministry was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency on Wednesday.

The ministry reported 600 fires across the country.

The situation eased in the capital Moscow, with toxic smog from nearby peat-bog fires initially clearing.

But scores of fires continue to burn in the area, leading meteorologists to warn that the situation could once again worsen in the coming days.

August 11, 2010 10:53

Ministry aviation to focus on tackling wildfires in Moscow, Ryazan regions on Aug 11

http://www.interfax.com/newsinf.asp?id=182323

MOSCOW. Aug 11 (Interfax) - The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry will send scores of its airplanes on Wednesday to combat wildfires in the Moscow and Ryazan regions, Vladimir Stepanov, director of the ministry's national crisis management center, told journalists.

"On Wednesday, aircraft of the Emergency Situations Ministry of Russia will conduct large-scale operations to put out forest fires on the territory of the Moscow and Ryazan regions, as well as near the town of Sarov in the Nizhny Novgorod region," Stepanov said.

The situation outside the town of Snezhinsk in the Chelyabinsk region "has fully been stabilized, and we are no longer monitoring it," he sad.

The number of forest and peat bog fires, as well as the number of fire-stricken areas has decreased steadily all over Russia during the past 24 hours, the official said.

"We have achieved the most significant results in the Saratov and Samara regions, the republic of Marii-el, as well as the Tambov and Vladimir regions, where the situation soon will be stabilized completely," Stepanov said.

In the past 24 hours, firefighting forces have been re-deployed to some of the areas hit by the worst wildfires, he said.

"The [firefighting] group has been reinforced in the Moscow and Ryazan regions," Stepanov said.

tm mj

Russia reduces wildfire area 'by half'

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/russia-reduces-wildfire-area-by-half/story-fn3dxix6-1225904055532

• 
  From correspondents in Moscow
  
• 
  From: AFP
  
• 
  August 11, 2010 5:06PM
  

THE total area of the wildfires in central Russia has halved in the last 24 hours but there are still hundreds of wildfires raging, the emergencies ministry said Wednesday.

Fires covering an area of 92,700 hectares (more than 350 square miles) were blazing in Russia, almost half of Tuesday's figure of 174,000 hectares, it said in a statement quoted by Russian news agencies.

But 612 fires were still ablaze, up from 557 reported on Tuesday.

Anger grows in Russia press over slack fire response

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iZjsaaHgc6KmwbB1EbJyO9ArS_ng
(AFP) – 46 minutes ago

MOSCOW — Anger mounted in Russia's press Wednesday over the official response to the worst wildfires in the country's history, with questions asked even over the PR tactics of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

In typical strongman style, Putin had the day earlier taken to the air in a water bombing jet to douse fires in one of the worst effected regions, his latest trip to emphasise the authorities were on top of the situation.

"His PR-engineers can think of nothing more other than to yet again sit him behind the controls of an aircraft," leading business daily Vedomosti commented bitterly.

"Or a tractor, or a submarine, or to stroke a bear in the Far North, or save tigers in the Far East," it added, recalling other famous stunts by the prime minister in recent times.

"This is a tunnel vision of the PR-makers who believe that a TV picture of Putin behind the wheel of something is an eternal panacea for a falling rating," it added.

Pollsters have noted a fall in the popularity ratings of President Dmitry Medvedev and Putin in recent weeks, even though it remains to be seen how these figures will be impacted by the fires.

The usually staunchly pro-Kremlin daily Moskovsky Komsomolets said sarcastically that the "Russian authorities are heroically (if you believe the television reports) fighting the forest fires."

"They are fighting the fires, having allowed these fires right from the start to reach a catastrophic magnitude," it said.

Blaming a decision to change Russia's forestry laws for the extent of the crisis, it added: "Is it not in emergency situations that the solidity of the whole system of state management has to show its quality?"

"Otherwise why are we feeding presidents, prime ministers, ministers, governors, deputies, army officials or simply the army?"

Vedomosti outlined a string of failures by regional officials in the worst affected regions.

These included the mayor of Moscow staying on holiday for a "sports injury treatment" and regional bosses who carried on with business as normal like welcoming athletes and opening a greenhouse for roses.

"Forecasters predicted an extraordinarily hot summer at the start of spring. The drought and the unprecedented heat started in some regions at the beginning of July," Vedomosti noted.

"It would seem that governors and local authorities should have prepared populated areas and local people earlier for the possible fires."

The newspaper noted that Medvedev earlier this week warned political opponents not to try and profit from the crisis by carrying out "political PR".

"But Putin's flight shows that the authorities are willingly using this method. The necessity for the premier to put out a fire was nothing other than one of PR," it said.