"After studying the report of the emergencies minister, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the Defense Ministry to join the fire-fighting efforts in Siberia and the Far East," the press service said.

MOSCOW, July 31. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the Russian Defense Ministry to take part in the fire-fighting efforts in Siberia and the Far East, the Kremlin’s press service told journalists on Wednesday.

The press service added that the president also ordered to preserve the armed forces group in the Irkutsk Region until further notice.

Forest fires are raging in Taimyr, Evenkia and the Boguchansky, Kezhemsky, Yeniseisky, Motyginsky and Abansky districts.

On Tuesday, First Deputy Emergencies Minister Alexander Chupriyan arrived to the Krasnoyarsk Region for control over the fire fighting. He carried out a session in the regional chief directorate of the ministry and took part in a session of the emergencies commission of the regional government.

Chupriyan said that 3 million hectares of taiga forests in Siberia and partially in the Far East are burning, and this area is growing. He highlighted that the active forest fires pose no danger to communities and economic facilities, but people are suffering of smoke. In light of this, a decision was made to build up the fire-fighting group of the Federal Forestry Agency, Russian entities and the Russian Emergencies Ministry.

A state of emergency is operating on the whole territory of the Irkutsk and Krasnoyarsk Regions, in two districts of the Buryatia Region and in one district in the Sakha Region due to wildfires.