"Compared with previous years, the number of fire outbreaks has gone down while the area destroyed has almost doubled," ITAR-TASS news agency quoted a spokesman as saying.

Firefighters were still struggling to quell blazes in the Ural mountains, Siberia and the far eastern region.

But the fires did not threaten the population and the situation would be stabilised in the next few days, the official said.

Forests were still ablaze on the Chukotka peninsula, in far eastern Magadansk region, in the Siberian regions of Novosibirsk, Tyumensk and Tomsk, in the Altai Republic of Siberia, and in the Khanty-Mansiyisk autonomous territory.

These blazes cover an area of nearly 9,000 hectares.

Some 25,000 fire outbreaks have been registered in Russia in the course of one year.

In July, the environment ministry reported that forest fires raging in Russia this year had already caused more damage than in all of 2002, especially in Siberia and Russia's Far East.

The areas affected are sparsely populated with difficult terrain, hindering easy access by firefighters.

Russia's forests span 1.1 billion hectares (2.7 billion acres), or two thirds of Russian territory, and account for a fifth of all the world's forests.

TERRA.WIRE