Moscow mayor Yury Luzhkov has urged members of the city government to cut back on meetings and discuss important matters over the telephone because of the scorching heat and acrid smog in the Russian capital.
The Moscow region has seen abnormally hot weather and drought for over a month with two temperature records broken in June and ten records broken in July. The heat wave has caused forest and peat bog fires that have smothered the capital in toxic smog.
"Those who gather large numbers of people will be punished. Limit the number of different meetings and communicate by video conference or telephone," Luzhkov said.
The capital's mayor said he did not want to damage the health of his employees by forcing them to attend meetings in the current weather conditions.
MOSCOW, August 10 (RIA Novosti)
