Air pollution in Moscow may have eased on Sunday but levels will continue to exceed the norm for the near future, a specialist at Russia's State Environmental Agency said.

"At the moment the ecological situation remains unfavorable throughout the territory of Moscow. While in the afternoon the situation has stabilized a bit, and the smoke dispersed, we still expect the concentration of pollutants to exceed the maximum," the Mosekomonitoring expert said.

She added that in mid-afternoon the concentration of carbon monoxide in the Moscow air was more than three times the norm, with particulate pollution twice normal levels and hydrocarbons above normal by a factor of 2.5.

Peat bog and forest fires raging outside the capital pushed pollution levels to new 2010 highs on Saturday, with carbon monoxide 6.5 times the maximum allowable concentration, but conditions eased on Sunday.

Nonetheless, the scorching heat wave that has gripped much of central Russia since mid-June continued on Sunday, with Moscow setting a sixth record high in eight August days.

The Fobos meteorological center said the temperature peaked at 34.7 degrees Celsius (94.5 degrees Fahrenheit), beating the previous August 8 mark, set in 1932, by 1.5 Celsius degrees.

MOSCOW, August 8 (RIA Novosti)