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Emergencies Ministry plane with over 40 tonnes of food onboard leaves for Yakutia

The Russian Emergencies Ministry has already deployed its group in Yakutia

MOSCOW, November 3 (Itar-Tass) - The Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations has sent a shipment of essential foods to Yakutia to create a local food reserve and to avoid a food deficit which is threatening remote northern villages because of shallow waters and ice formation.

“An Il-76 plane of the Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations took off from the Ramenskoye airfield near Moscow. It is carrying over 40.5 tonnes of food to Yakutsk,” Irina Rossius, an Emergencies Ministry spokesperson, told Itar-Tass.

It will deliver over 40.5 tonnes of food, including baby mix, porridge, dry mixes, flour and canned food, to Yakutsk. Besides, a Mi-26 helicopter and an An-74 aircraft have been placed in operational readiness to airlift food to remote Yakutian villages.

The Russian Emergencies Ministry has already deployed its group in Yakutia. A group of the national crisis management center of the Russian Emergencies Ministry has also left for Yakutia. It is headed by Viktor Yatsutsenko. The group will have to assess the situation in remote villages in northern Yakutia where ice formation and shallow waters have created a threat of food and fuel shortages.

Shallow waters and a short navigation period have made it impossible to bring in the required volumes of fuel and food to Yakutia. Anatoly Skrybykin, the deputy prime minister of Yakutia and chairman of the republican commission for emergency situations, said that the republic still had enough food and fuel.

“Yakutia has enough fuel for generating thermal and electric energy until the start of winter traffic and the opening of winter roads,” Skrybykin explained. He said that the remaining fuel would be transported by trucks on ice bridges.

“Essential foods are available in full volume. Planes are bringing in onions, cabbages and potatoes,” Skrybykin said.