Scorching weather has caused large-scale forest fires throughout the Balkans this summer. Several mountainous districts in eastern Serbia are still being swept by fires, and in one region, some 1,000 hectares of woodland have burned down.
In his address to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said the ongoing destruction being wreaked by the fires threatened the health and lives of Serbian citizens. Putin has instructed Russian Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu to render emergency aid to the country, a long-time ally of Moscow.
Yury Brazhnikov, the emergencies ministry's director for international operations, said that an Il-76 tanker aircraft could be used to tackle fires in Serbia. The "water bomber" has just returned from a firefighting mission in neighboring Bulgaria, where it released over 400 metric tons of water on fires near Stara Zagora, in the central part of the country, on Saturday. The assistance was provided free of charge, in line with an intergovernmental agreement.
Following a request from another Balkan nation, Greece, the Russian ministry said on Monday it would send a Mi-26 firefighting helicopter to the country, which has also been hard-hit by the recent fires.
Greek experts said up to 40,000 hectares of forests had burned down in the country so far this summer. In the provinces of Attica (southern Greece) and Boeotia (in the country's east), more than a sixth of the woodland has been destroyed.
"The helicopter will fly to Greece on July 24 or 25 and will work there for at least a month, until the fire hazard season ends," Brazhnikov said.
