Russia 100811 Basic Political Developments

Greece ready to dispatch help to Russian Federation regarding wildfires

http://greece.greekreporter.com/2010/08/11/greece-ready-to-dispatch-help-to-russian-federation-regarding-wildfires/

Posted on 11 August 2010 by Afroditi Lakkiotis

The secretary-general of the Ministry of Foreign affairs, Mr. Yiannis-Alexis Zepos, announced a few minutes ago, to the Russian ambassador in Greece Mr.Vladimir Chkhikvishvili that the Greek authorities are able to send by air a group of the special EMAK team. The 40 member group will be accompanied by full high-tech equipment in order to help extinguish the wildfires that ravage the country during the last weeks.

Parallel, Mr. Zepos underlined that in agreement with the Ministry of foreign affairs and the Ministry of citizen protection as well as the Ministry of culture and tourism, the Russian citizens who are in Greece on vacation can extend their stay until September the 10th without worrying about the expiry date of their Entrance card.

Finally, we should underline that the Greek embassy in Moscow as well as the Greek consular authorities that are situated in the Russian Federation are open.

UN offers aid to victims of fires in Russia

http://english.ruvr.ru/2010/08/11/15281661.html

Aug 11, 2010 01:50 Moscow Time

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed his deep condolences to the families of those killed as a result of the wildfires in Russia, his spokesman Martin Nesirki said on Tuesday.

"The UN Secretary-General is saddened by the loss of human life as a result of the fires." said Nesirki.

Ban Ki-moon "Is aware of the tremendous efforts being made by the Government of the Russian Federation in order to control the situation." noted the official representative of the general secretary.

"The head of the UN once again confirms the commitment of the United Nations to provide any assistance that may be required."  Nisirki said.

Empty Norwegian embassy in Moscow

http://www.barentsobserver.com/empty-norwegian-embassy-in-moscow.4805939-16180.html
2010-08-11

Only 5 of 60 employees are left at the Norwegian Embassy in Moscow. The rest have been sent to Norway or to other places in Russia because of the choking smog and extreme heat that is tormenting the city.

One consequence is that the embassy has had to stop issuing tourist visas to Norway and the Schengen area until the situation is better, a note on the embassy’s web site reads.

- We have sent away all non-critical personnel and left only a minimum amount of staff, press spokesman in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Kjetil Elsebutangen says to newspaper Aftenposten.

Elsebutangen advices people who have planned to visit Moscow to really consider whether they should go or not – There is no doubt it is a great strain to stay in Moscow in the current situation, he says.

Also The US, Denmark, Canada, Germany and Bulgaria have sent embassy employees out of Moscow.

Russia’s extreme summer weather has almost doubled Moscow’s normal death rate.

Uphill battle for volunteer firefighters in Russia

http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2010/08/11/uphill_battle_for_volunteer_firefighters_in_russia/

Muscovites answer villages’ calls for help

By David Filipov

Globe Staff / August 11, 2010

GORA, Russia — They dug and piled sand with primitive shovels into thin yellow firebreaks. They sprayed water from hand-pumped plastic spray cans to beat down hissing, seething flames. They coughed and swore in the thick, acrid smoke as they cut away fallen branches to prevent them from exploding into fire. They fought a seemingly one-sided battle with an underground conflagration that threatened a stretch of pine woods precariously close to the village of Gora, about 70 miles southeast of Moscow.

They were a dozen volunteers among a motley army of amateur firefighters who have fanned out across Russia, drawn by desperate calls for help from remote villages. They march into danger armed with the most rudimentary firefighting equipment, no protective gear, and little more than a desire to help.

“We are trying to stop this fire from getting to that village,’’ said Alexei Nekrasov, a Muscovite like all of the volunteers who had come to Gora. “And if it blows, we won’t have time to make it out of here.’’

The Russian government has said that it does not have enough firefighters to battle nearly 600 wildfires fueled by the worst heat wave ever recorded here. Military units dispatched to battle the blazes are underequipped. The blazes have consumed villages, woods, fields, and cottages across western Russia, killed more than 50 people, and blanketed much of the region with a noxious pall that burns the eyes and irritates the throat.

The ultimate toll of the smog and heat may be much greater: A Moscow medical official said that the daily death rate in the city has doubled to 700 in the heat and smog. Fires were nearing the Urals town of Ozyorsk, home of a nuclear facility that in 1957 was the site of an explosion that Greenpeace calls the second-worst in history after Chernobyl. The fear is that the blaze will kick up radioactive particles buried in the dust — nature’s own dirty bomb.

Cries for help, cataloged on websites set up by concerned citizens, sounded from across Western Russia.

“Much of the village has burned,’’ read one.

“Urgent! We need fire extinguishers, pumps, and hoses!’’ came another appeal.

“We need shovels,’’ read an appeal from Polbino, the center of the region that includes Gora. Alexander Bobin and Slava Fomin of Moscow read it. They brought shovels, camouflage pants, boots, and masks to join Nekrasov’s impromptu platoon.

“I saw the pictures and read that people were needed,’’ Bobin said.

The military had sent in a tracked vehicle to plow a path for trucks that also serves as a firebreak. But the peat under the soil smolders, passing on to roots that travel under the firebreaks. The roots burn, the pine trees fall, the exposed wood crackles into flames.

“This is pointless,’’ Nekrasov said as a few volunteers tried to put out a small fire burning in the trunk of a fallen spruce. Covered in ash, exhausted, their masks black from the soot they were trying not to inhale, they squeezed out water from their extinguishers in pathetic little streams to the plaintive honking of the hand pumps.

Years ago, Russia had 70,000 forest rangers, whose job was to look after the woods, making sure there were firebreaks, pruning overgrowth, clearing away debris. But now there are just 12,000. Nekrasov pointed out a few old firebreaks that were overgrown by brush.

State-run media have sought to portray the government’s response to the wildfires as resolute — President Dmitry Medvedev traveling the country, upbraiding local officials; Prime Minister Vladimir Putin promising more than $6,000 to any family that has lost its property; the country’s minister for emergencies, Sergei Shoigu, vowing to extinguish the blazes within the week.

And Muscovites breathed a sigh of relief Monday when health officials announced that the air was only two times more polluted than acceptable levels, down from seven times on Sunday.

Still, the fires burn.

Yulya Borisova, her face black with grime, her T-shirt proclaiming her “100 percent real man,’’ sprayed a fire that spat and sizzled, evaporating the sprinkle before it could cool the blaze.

“It is dangerous,’’ Nekrasov said. “Any minute a tree could fall on your head. “

In a moment everyone saw what he meant. A gust of wind, a sudden whoosh, and a tall birch next to the road exploded into bright streams of red and orange. Followed by a pine. And another.

A firetruck pulled up. The chief firefighter watched the blaze, then decided not to fight it. It was too dangerous, he said. The truck might get caught in the fire.

“No, guys. This is hopeless,’’ Nekrasov said. Then he grabbed his watering can and stalked off into the woods, leading his volunteers back toward the blaze.

David Filipov can be reached at [e-mail].