Medvedev to confer with SCRF about wildfire situation Wed.

MOSCOW, August 4 (Itar-Tass) - RF President Dmitry Medvedev interrupts
his stay in Sochi and is to confer with the permanent members of the
Security Council of the Russian Federation in Moscow on Wednesday about
measures to protect particularly important and complex facilities from
wildfires.
A Kremlin press service official has told Itar-Tass that the leading
officials of EMERCOM, security-related organizations, RosAtom, the Office
of Prosecutor General, and the Federal Penitentiary Service have been also
invited to the conference.
The Kremlin press service official said, "The main purpose of the
meeting is to work out and adopt additional measures for fire-hazard
safety of critical facilities and enhance their protection".
A complex wildfire-related situation is persisting in Russia. Several
tens of people have died in the fires and several thousands have lost
their housing. Wildfires are also threatening special facilities. Luckily,
the advance of wildfires towards the nuclear center at Sarov, Nizhny
Novgorod Region, has been stemmed. The Head of State directed the Defence
Minister to pay special attention to the fire-hazard safety of military
facilities.
Several conferences are to be held in the capital to check compliance
with the presidential decree concerning emergency situation regulations in
the Mariy El and Mordovia Republics, Vladimir, Voronezh, Moscow, Nizhny
Novgorod, and Ryazan Regions. On August 5, Medvedev is also to meet with
President Jacob Zuma of South Africa, who arrives in Russia for an
official visit.

.RF Seamen's Union delegation to leave for Mexico Wed.

VLADIVOSTOK, August 4 (Itar-Tass) - A delegation of the Russian
Seamen's Union (RSU) leaves for Mexico on Wednesday to attend a world
congress of the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITWF),
Nikolai Sukhanov, chairman of the Far Eastern regional organization of
the RSU, has told Itar-Tass.
The ITWF congress is to be held from August 5 to 12. Participants in
the trade union forum are to consider, in particular, the problems of
fighting sea piracy, and matters concerning ratification of the new
Consolidated Maritime Labour Convention which constitutes seamen's bill of
rights that are common to all maritime powers.
The RSU delegation includes the chairmen of the RSU's regional
organizations based in St Petersburg, Novorossiisk, Murmansk, Archangelsk,
Vladivostok, Nakhodka and other port cities of Russia.
Sukhanov said the RSU Far Eastern delegation is to tell the ITWF
Congress about the results of their work aimed at ensuring the safety of
sea navigation. Specifically, on the initiative of the trade unions of the
Far East, more than 150 decrepit vessels have been scrapped. Now that
transport vessels that outlived their service length have been scrapped,
the fleet's accident rate in the Far East seas has sharply diminished,
Sukhanov pointed out.

.Smoke from peatbog fires envelops Moscow.

MOSCOW, August 4 (Itar-Tass) - Smoke resultant of Moscow Region
peatbog fires is enveloping the capital. Breeze felt in the megapolis is
unable to dispel it.
According to Itar-Tass correspondents, smoke covers most heavily the
southeastern sector of Moscow and the adjacent regional cities of
Lyubertsy, Ramenskoye, as well as Zhukovsky. In the latter, it is hard to
discern the outline of a building, located 300 metres away, even from the
fourth floor of an apartment house and even with street lighting on.
Visibility on the motor roads has sharply declined. Street lights are
enveloped in smoke halo. The drivers of motor vehicles have to lower speed
and switch on An official in the reference room of the city air hub told Itar-Tass
earlier that Moscow airports are operating as usual so far, despite the
dense haze.
Railwaymen, in view of poor visibility, have taken special safety
measures. An officer on duty at the management office of the Moscow
Railway told Itar-Tass, "Loco drivers have been directed to sound loud
sirens and switch on antifog headlights>. They have been also advised to
turn on sirens while approaching railway stations, nearby populated areas,
and railway crossings.
According to Moscow weathermen, air temperature in Moscow is about 28
degrees above zero (Celsius). The velocity of easterly wind is one metre
per second.
The largest foci of peatbog fires are located in the east and
southeast of Moscow Region.
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