Smog forces Russia to move Bulgaria friendly

Smog from wildfires in the countryside cloaked Moscow on Friday, with the levels of toxic particles, raising alarm over public health and numerous commuters wearing anti-pollution masks.The city's most famous landmarks like the spires of the Kremlin towers or the onion domes of Orthodox churches were largely invisible from a distance as Muscovites wheezed their way through the smog into work."Smog has covered the entire city and the situation is getting worse," said Alexei Popikov of Moscow's pollution monitoring service Mosekomonitoring on state television.

Wearing sanitary masks or clutching wet rags to their faces, Moscow residents struggled Saturday against the worst smog in living memory which has enveloped the Russian capital from spreading wildfires.The concentration of toxic particles was up to five times higher than safe levels, experts warned, as the city's iconic landmarks like the Kremlin and golden church cupolas disappeared behind a layer of smoke.

A heavy smog from the wildfires burning around Moscow blanketed the Russian capital on Wednesday, with experts warning the concentration of toxic particles had reached dangerous levels.Visibility in the city centre was only 300 metres in the early morning, with the tops of the wedding-cake Stalin-era skyscrapers and the golden onion domes of churches invisible from a distance.

The suffocating smog that blanketed swathes of China is now hitting parts of Japan, sparking warnings Monday of health risks for the young and the sick. The environment ministry's website has been overloaded as worried users log on to try to find out what is coming their way.

Dozens of flights were delayed and worries grew over public health Sunday as Moscow choked in the worst smog in living memory blown over the Russian capital from spreading wildfires.The city's iconic landmarks like the Kremlin towers and the wedding-cake Stalin-era skyscrapers were completely obscured from a distance as the acrid smoke that has suffocated the capital for days showed no sign of shifting.Drivers put on their headlights in broad daylight to see through the smog while the sun shone as a hazy disc easily viewed by the naked eye with little discomfort.

MOSCOW — Millions of people died in Soviet dictator Josef Stalin’s gulag, but the 75th anniversary of the founding of one of the notorious forced-labour camps was cause for a celebration in Russia. Russian news portals reported Tuesday that local officials and prison wardens threw a party last week honoring the Usolsky camp in the Urals, with music and dancing and speeches by former camp guards.

The toxic smog smothering Moscow showed little sign of abating Monday as media accused officials of covering up the scale of the disaster and the authorities raced to put out a fire near a nuclear site.Amid Russia's worst heatwave in decades, the raging wildfires and burning peat bogs in central Russia have choked Moscow for several days and even sent plumes of smoke as far as neighbouring Finland.