"MOSCOW - More than half a million Russians have demanded the authorities do more to tackle vast wildfires in Siberia that environmentalists have dubbed an ecological catastrophe, but which officials have said would be “pointless” to put out.

Wildfires cover almost 3 million hectares of forest, an area almost the size of Belgium, according to the Federal Forestry Agency, and have prompted states of emergencies to be declared in five Russian regions.

Greenpeace said on Monday that acrid smog had wafted across Siberia as far as the Ural mountains, posing a threat to people’s health."

Tom Balmforth reports for Reuters July 30, 2019. [2]