Patrushev held a meeting on preparations for the flood and fire season

On February 9, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Patrushev held a meeting on the readiness of relevant departments and subjects of the country to ensure the safety of the flood and fire season. The event was held at the site of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations and was a continuation of the work outlined by Russian President Vladimir Putin at a meeting with permanent members of the Security Council on this issue.

In most of the country, except for the southern regions, the amount of precipitation exceeded the norm. At the same time, according to the forecast of the Russian Hydrometeorological Service, in late February — early March, sharp temperature spikes are possible in the European part of Russia, which may lead to an increase in water levels in rivers and reservoirs.

Coordination of actions of all departments and services involved in the prevention of possible emergencies helps to avoid significant consequences of negative natural phenomena.

"In 2025, 34 hydraulic engineering and protective structures were built and repaired. This year, the government has provided about 9 billion rubles for this area of work, as well as for the cleaning of water bodies, which is 1 billion more than last year's amount of funding. I would like to add that work on a number of large facilities is expected to be completed this year. In particular, I am referring to the dams in the Khabarovsk Territory and the Jewish Autonomous Region. Now, as for the fire hazard situation. The beginning of last season was not easy. Nevertheless, thanks to well-coordinated interdepartmental work, as well as the timely transfer of forces, the situation was able to stabilize by mid-June. As a result, in 2025, the area covered by fire was almost halved. The Russian government has allocated about 20 billion rubles for the prevention and control of forest fires. In particular, due to this, a new forest fire center was created in the Far East, as well as the material and technical equipment of units in the most affected regions was updated. This year, the financing of relevant events has been increased by another 7 billion rubles. In particular, it is planned to organize 11 new aviation departments and strengthen 40 existing ones," stressed the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation.

Thanks to government support measures to increase the efficiency of detecting wildfires, subjects are updating forest fire equipment and purchasing video cameras for uninterrupted monitoring of the situation. This year, 19 Russian regions will receive additional funds for forest fire prevention and control.

"Considering the forecasts, the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations <...> a set of preparatory measures aimed at preventing floods and forest fires has been planned and implemented in advance. <...> The subjects of the Russian Federation need to fully ensure the implementation of their powers in the field of protecting the population and territories from emergencies caused by cyclical risks," said Alexander Kurenkov, head of the Russian Emergencies Ministry.

Dam break: those who lost their homes in case of emergency will get an extra day off

They will also be given five days of unpaid leave.

On February 6, Putin discussed with the permanent members of the Security Council additional measures to prevent floods and wildfires, as well as information security.

Before that, in October 2025, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin announced that the government would allocate money to restore the Orenburg region from the effects of floods. Residential buildings, roads and infrastructure facilities were significantly damaged in the regions.

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