"The federal centre has established all the necessary conditions to enable the regions to exercise the powers transferred to them on protecting against wildfires," Acting First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov said in his opening remarks.

"We have discussed them in detail at the previous teleconference on April 20," he continued. Zubkov also said that experts have drafted standard forms of integrated plans for putting out wildfires at all levels; the government has introduced a mechanism for inter-regional use of firefighting forces and means; the regions have been supplied with special equipment for combatting wildfires; and the conditions have been established for the operation of regional dispatcher control services. In addition, subventions for the protection of forests against fires are being transferred to the regions according to schedule; 80 regions have obtained 523 licenses for putting out wildfires.

Representatives of federal executive authorities are visiting the regions to help them organise the work on location. In April, Rosleskhoz (the Federal Forestry Agency) rendered such aid to the Trans-Baikal Territory. The warranty repairs of the fire-fighting equipment sent to the regions will be organised at their request – the government has issued instructions to this end.

"The monitoring shows that not all regions are in charge of the situation," Zubkov said. "Out of 480,000 hectares of forestland hit by fires in 2012, 420,000 or 87% are located in the Trans-Baikal Territory and the Republic of Buryatia. Of the 6,000 wildfires that broke out in 2012, almost 60% took place in seven regions: the Trans-Baikal Territory, Buryatia, the Chelyabinsk Region, the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the Altai Territory, the Novosibirsk Region and the Amur Region," he said. "Regional executives are personally responsible for the unconditional implementation of all work on preventing and combatting forest fires," Zubkov emphasised.

Participants in the conference discussed ways of enhancing the efficiency of the work of regional and municipal bodies in ensuring the protection of forests against fires. Regional governors have reported to Mr Zubkov on the implementation of integrated fire resistance plans, their readiness to use fire-fighting equipment, procedures for introducing emergency and special rules for forest walks, and enforcing efficient control over a ban on the uncontrolled burning of dry grass. They focused special attention on speeding up the construction and reconstruction of fire-resistant forest roads, arranging fire breaks and fire lines, conducting full-scale fire-fighting training of personnel and preparing fire-fighting chemical stations for work.