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Journalism of Courage
Activists are warning that the more than 600 wildfires still burning in Russia could move into the areas affected by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and spread harmful radiation.
Environmental group Greenpeace says the wildfires,sparked by the hottest summer ever registered in Russia,could engulf the regions still affected by radioactive fallout from the 1986 Chernobyl accident.
The Emergency Situations Ministry’s branch in the western Bryansk region that suffered worst from the Chernobyl catastrophe in what is now Ukraine said Wednesday it spotted several wildfires in the area over the past few days and quickly put them out. It said it increased patrols to prevent more blazes.
Emergency officials say that about 165,000 people and 39 firefighting aircraft are battling blazes nationwide.
Russian wildfires threatening 15,000 prisoners
The wildfires raging in Russia’s Volga region of Mordovia are threatening the lives of 15,000 inmates of a prison camp surrounded by dense forests,according to reports.
“The fifteen thousand inmates of correction camps in Zubovo-Polyanski district of Mordovia are in the ring of fire,” Gazeta.ru news portal reports said.
The reports say that it would be difficult to evacuate them as four years ago railway tracks upto 60 kms,linking the area to the nearest station,were dismantled.
