Mr Medvedev also instructed Regional Development Minister Viktor Basargin to visit Volgograd Region, which has been hardest hit by the fires, to organise work to rebuild destroyed housing as rapidly as possible and pay compensation to the fire victims. Compensation will be of the same amount as that set by government decision in August.
Wildfires fanned by strong winds in the Saratov and Volgograd Regions have destroyed around 500 buildings, more than half of which are people’s homes, in 15 different locations. The local populations are being evacuated.