Smog haze from the peat bog and forest fires left Central Russia heading for Russia's Urals and Kazakhstan, NASA press service said on Saturday.

The Terra NASA satellite, equipped with a thermal emission and reflection radiometer, registered two hotspots from fires, one of them is southeasterly off Moscow, the second one is in the Urals region.

Last week Moscow was covered by the acrid dense smog, but the northern and northern easterly winds blew the smog off the city.

A scorching heat wave has gripped much of European Russia since mid-June, which coupled with the worst drought since the 1970s has made the countryside particularly susceptible to wildfires.

Thousands of emergency workers and military personnel have been working round the clock for almost three weeks to fight the fires in 22 regions, which have so far killed more than 50 people and left over 3,500 homeless. The immediate economic cost of the fires has been estimated at $15 billion.

MOSCOW, August 14 (RIA Novosti)