MOSCOW, August 16. /TASS/. The area affected by wildfires in Russia surpassed 4 mln hectares in 2023, Emergencies Minister Alexander Kurenkov told Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"Since the beginning of the year, over 11,000 wildfire hotspots on the total area of more than 4 mln hectares have been recorded in the Russian Federation. With an insignificant increase in the number of hotspots, the area affected by the fires this year surpasses last year’s figures almost 1.5 times," he said.

According to the latest data, 169 wildfires on the area of over 330,000 hectares are active in the country. Firefighters managed to localize 30 hotspots (17% from the total amount). Over the past 24 hours, 31 new hotspots on 900 hectares have emerged with 125 wildfires extinguished on the area of 250 hectares.

"Five wildfire hotspots on the area of 308 hectares are active within a five-kilometer zone from population centers," Kurenkov added.