The wildfire threatening one of Russia's top nuclear research centers in Sarov has been largely dealt with, freeing up firefighters to move on to new fires, the Emergency Situations Ministry's chief military expert said on Sunday.
"There are no open fires burning in the area of Sarov," Pavel Plat said during a conference call. "Tomorrow, we will begin to reduce the group and transfer it to areas where the fire situation is more serious."
Head of Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu said that these forces need to throw in the Nizhny Novgorod and Moscow region.
Robots and other high-tech means of fighting fires, as well as hundreds of military servicemen, were deployed to the Nizhny Novgorod Region town, which spreads into the neighboring republic of Mordovia, where the forest fires were burning.
A Defense Ministry spokesman said earlier on Sunday that the servicemen had completed their mission and were ready to move on.
"The personnel of the Armed Forces, engaged to carry out fire-prevention measures in the area of the city of Sarov, have met their objectives and are now ready to perform fire protection work in another area," Capt. Vladimir Drobyshevsky said.
He said more than 1,000 soldiers and 30 pieces of equipment had been deployed to Sarov.
MOSCOW, August 8 (RIA Novosti)
