MOSCOW, August 15. /TASS/. A federal state of emergency has been declared in Russia’s borderline Belgorod Region, Emergencies Minister Alexander Kurenkov said.

"I propose designating the emergency situation in the Belgorod Region as a federal emergency and launching a response at the federal level," he said at an emergency meeting of the government commission for preventing and addressing emergencies.

According to Kurenkov, the situation in the Kursk Region remains complicated and tense. Terrorist attacks carried out by Ukrainian armed units have damaged residential buildings and infrastructure facilities, causing fatalities and casualties among civilians. "Work has been organized in the region to provide comprehensive assistance to the affected population; however, the scale of what is happening makes it impossible for the regional authorities to address the consequences of the emergency on their own," the minister noted.

The federal state of emergency eases decision-making on allocating federal funds for the payment of financial assistance to local residents and financing activities aimed at accommodating people at temporary accommodation centers and providing them with basic necessities; it also allows the authorities to speed up measures for the additional protection of civilians. The Russian Emergencies Ministry explained that with a federal state of emergency in effect, those affected were entitled to financial support. All those who qualify will receive a one-time payment of 15,000 rubles ($169); those who lose some of their basic possessions get 75,000 rubles ($845) and those who lose all their possessions get 150,000 rubles ($1,690). The families of those killed receive a compensation of 1.5 mln rubles ($16,900); those suffering serious bodily harm get 600,000 rubles ($6,760), while the compensation for minor injuries stands at 300,000 rubles ($3,380).