"You know, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin made the decision yesterday in Astrakhan to relocate all the residents from the building where the explosion occurred," First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov said while opening the meeting.

"Also, the government is at the moment finalising an executive order to pay one-off allowances to the victims and the families of the deceased, and the region is allocating additional assistance from its own budget. The most difficult is the situation of those who have lost all of their property. According to the updated data from the Astrakhan Region's administration, these are the residents of 26 flats.

"People are already moving to a new building. This is why we will help them refurbish their flats with everything necessary for normal life as soon as possible, such as furniture and household equipment. They will be supplied with all this without any delay," Viktor Zubkov said.

"The Astrakhan Region's administration must promptly inform the affected about today's decisions, complete the provision of assistance to the victims within two weeks, and report to the government commission about the results of this work.

"I would like to thank all the attendees of this meeting for your prompt response, for your responsibility, understanding, and readiness to offer free assistance to people," Viktor Zubkov said in concluding the meeting.

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Attendees at the meeting included Sergei Papin, a member of the Pipe Metallurgical Company's Board of Directors; Nikolai Alexov, the general director of Dominion; Yelena Bryukhanova, the general director of Kuzminki; Tagir Kalimulin, the general director of M Video Management; Mikhail Kokorich, the general director of the Tekhnosila Group; Alexei Metyolkin, the general director of Mekran; Vladimir Poplevichev, the general director of Almaz; and Valentin Stepanov, the general director of Grafskoye.