Russian President Putin asks regional officials to deal with Siberia wildfires

Russian President Vladimir Putin has asked regional officials to deal with forest fires in Siberia. He said there could be no repeat of last year’s fire season, the worst on record. In an online meeting, he said he cannot allow a repeat of last year’s situation, when forest fires were the most long-lasting and intensive of recent years.

There had been 4,000 forest fires since the start of the year across 270,000 hectares and 16 people had died in fires in the past week. At least eight people died in Siberia on Saturday.