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Scale of wildfires, flash floods in Russia largely connected to climate change, Putin says

According to the President, during the last 44 years, the average yearly temperature in the country has been increasing 2.8 times faster "than in the global dimension"

© Alexei Nikolsky/Russian Presidential Press and Information Office/TASS

MOSCOW, August 5. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin explained the scale of wildfires and flash floods in the country by climate change.

The head of state promised during his meeting with the government to hold a separate meeting on combating wildfires and flash floods on August 6.

"All this is largely connected to the climate change - both global and in our country," Putin noted.

According to the President, during the last 44 years, the average yearly temperature in the country has been increasing 2.8 times faster "than in the global dimension."

"A significant portion of our territory - about 65% - is located in the Far North, and many settlements were built there during the Soviet Era atop the so-called permafrost," the President said.

"We still have no single system for monitoring of the permafrost state," he underscored.

He reminded that a bill on establishment of such system was planned earlier.

"We must develop and introduce it as soon as possible," Putin noted.

The President ordered Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology Alexander Kozlov to report on the development of this document, as well as on development of the hydro-meteorology and environmental monitoring service.

"I know that certain steps have been made in this direction recently," the President remarked.

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