Russia's firefighting effort has been weak, and slow to respond. Around 155,000 personnel – including firefighters, members of the emergencies ministry and volunteers – have been called up to fight the flames, along with 56 non-specialist aircraft. As for the BE-200, a jet designed for firefighting, Russia only maintains four. On Tuesday, the prime minister, Vladimir Putin climbed into one of them, with with television cameramen in tow, to take the co-pilot's seat and personally dump 24 tonnes of water on two wildfires raging near Beloomut. It was a long-awaited spectacle, one designed to appease an increasingly angry population.