Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has lifted the state of emergency on three more regions as fires abated, leaving one region still under alert, DPA quoted the Kremlin sources as announcing Friday. The emergency was lifted in the Moscow region as well as in Nishny Novgorod and Mordwinia as firefighters gained control over the remaining fires, the Kremlin said, according to Interfax. But the emergency remained in place in the Ryazan region south-east of Moscow, the Kremlin press office said. "The situation has normalized again around the country," Medvedev was quoted as saying. But most of the firefighting and rescue teams were being kept in place for the time being in order to prevent any new flare-up of fires and to continue clean-up operations, Medvedev said. Nishny Novgorod, some 400 kilometres east of Moscow, had been a major worry because of worries about the safety of the nuclear research facility at Sarov. Civil Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu had now advised Medvedev that it was safe to lift the emergency in the region, Interfax said. On August 2 Medvedev had declared an emergency in seven regions as the worst forest and peat bog fires ever in the country's history raged around the country, fuelled by drought and an extended heat wave. Temperatures in Moscow have dropped sharply over the past few days, with readings on Friday of 15 degrees Celsius and a drizzling rain - after weeks of 35 degrees and higher.
