Smog returns as fire wanes in Russia

Russia Sunday reported success in reducing fires burning close to its main nuclear research center, but in Moscow shifting winds brought the acrid smell of smog back to the capital.

Russia has for days battled to cut back hundreds of blazes across the country, including flames in a nature reserve near a nuclear research center in Sarov.

The secret nuclear research center tucked into the woods in central Russia straddles the Nizhny Novgorod and Mordovia regions, and the emergency ministry said Sunday that the number of fires in both regions had been reduced.

Sergei Kiriyenko, head of Russia's state nuclear corporation, Rosatom, said he had personally inspected the area around Sarov, adding that there was no danger of nuclear explosions or other environmental threats even if the fire reached the territory of the center.

The threat of the fire reaching the premises of the nuclear center was "very real" several days ago, but the situation is now under control, he said Friday in comments released by Rosatom on Saturday.

Meanwhile, an acrid smell returned to Moscow Sunday as shifting winds brought back smog from the neighboring Ryazan and Vladimir regions in central Russia, where three major peat bogs were burning.

A spokesman for air pollution monitoring service Mosekomonitoring, Alexei Popikov, told AFP that carbon monoxide levels in the Moscow air were 1.3 times higher than acceptable levels due to the smog.

AFP