Fire near nuclear research centre in Snezhinsk is top priority - Shoigu.

MOSCOW, August 9 (Itar-Tass) - The Russian Ministry for Emergency
Situations, the Defence and the Interior Ministries as well as forest
services mobilized huge resources to fight a fire near a Russian nuclear
research centre in Snezhinsk, the Chelyabinsk region on Sunday.
Russian Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu believes that work to
extinguish the fire should continue day and night. He said that a
switchover to a round-the-clock regime in the Moscow region had proven to
be effective.
"The same should be done in Snezhinsk," Shoigu emphasized.
The minister received reports that the fire covering an area of 7
hectares had been contained.
"There is no threat to the centre's nuclear facilities, and a
helicopter is helping to suppress the flames," the emergencies minister
went on to say.
"I hope you are going to extinguish this fire. Its area is small,"
Shoigu told the fire fighters.
Shoigu said that all efforts should be focused on liquidating the fire
near the nuclear research centre.
"So long as there's a fire hazard in the vicinity of the centre, all
the forces should be sent there. After that, they can move on to a natural
reserve," the minister explained.
A fire has erupted in a national park in the Chelyabinsk region. It's
covering an area of 40 hectares and hasn't yet been localized.

. France sends anti-fire experts & equipment to Russia.

PARIS, MOSCOW, August 9 (Itar-Tass) - Three French anti-fire experts
left for Russia on Sunday to help fighting forest and peat fires raging in
many parts of the country. The French Foreign Ministry said late on Sunday
that the same plane would deliver 30,000 smoke protection masks to
Moscow. A powerful fire-extinguishing aircraft DASH is expected to arrive
in Moscow on Monday.
The French government spokesperson confirmed in an interview with
Itar-Tass on Sunday that France was ready to send experts and relief aid
to Russia. In its statement the French government said that in addition to
three experts who had already left for Moscow France was also sending 120
employees of the fire rescue service, 37 special vehicles, 15 automatic
pumps and a five-member group to control the fire-extinguishing and rescue
operations.
Last Thursday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy told his Russian
colleague Dmitry Medvedev that the French authorities would respond to any
request from the Russian government for help in fighting the natural
disaster.

. Moscow remembers victims of August 2008 war in South Ossetia.

MOSCOW, August 9 (Itar-Tass) - More than 500 activists of Russian
youth movements gathered near the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in
Moscow late on Sunday, August 8, on the second anniversary of Georgia's
aggression against South Ossetia. The young people lit up candles and
observed a minute of silence in memory of civilians and Russian
peacekeepers that had died in the republic in August 2008.
"We are holding our action called 'Candle of Memory' to remind the
world that early on August 8, 2008 the Georgian troops began the shelling
of Tskhinval from the Grad mobile artillery rocket system and then stormed
the city with tanks. Russian peacekeepers and hundreds of civilians died
in the aggression," Maria Kislitsyna, an activist of the Nashi youth
movement, told Itar-Tass.
"We are grieving for all who died in those terrible days and demand
condemnation of Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili," Kislitsyna went
on to say.
Two years ago, overnight from August 7 to 8, the Georgian authorities
launched military hostilities against South Ossetia and began mass
shelling of its capital, Tskhinval. On August 8, Russia sent its troops
to South Ossetia to protect Russian citizens residing in the region and
help the Russian peacekeepers; the warships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet
reached the shores of Abkhazia. Sixty-five Russian servicemen were killed
and about 250 were wounded in the five-day conflict. South Ossetia lost
about 90 troops and volunteers; hundreds of civilians were killed. The
aggression by Georgian government forces in August 2008 caused a huge
economic damage to South Ossetia. Most of its infrastructure was gone.
Many civilians lost their homes and became homeless. More than 2,500
residential buildings were destroyed.

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