President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday western Russia was facing a "difficult" situation as smoke from forest fires reached the capital Moscow.

"Due to abnormal weather conditions in a number of regions of the European part of the country, the situation right now is difficult," Putin said during a televised meeting with regional officials.

Putin mentioned in particular the Ryazan region -- some 250 kilometres (155 miles) southeast of Moscow -- where "due to strong winds" fires continue to spread.

More than 9,500 firefighters and rescuers have been sent to battle the fires, as well as eight planes and seven helicopters, acting governor of the region Pavel Malkov told Putin.

The forest fires have devastated nearly 12,000 hectares in the Ryazan region with temperatures rising above 31 degrees Celsius, Malkov said.

He added that there has been "no rain and we are not expecting any soon".

Malkov, however, said that the fires "will be brought under control within two or three days and fully extinguished within one or two weeks".

Last week, smoke from the Ryazan fires reached parts of Moscow and once again blanketed the capital on Monday.

"Smoke periodically covers Moscow but the situation is becoming more controllable now," said Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin.

Scientists are blaming a slew of forest fires across Europe in what has been an summer of unusually high temperatures on climate change and Russia has been no exception, with several breaking out in Siberia and the country's far east.

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Region outside Moscow declares wildfire state of emergency
Moscow (AFP) Aug 22, 2022
Riazan, a Russian region to the east of Moscow, announced a state of emergency Monday after a spate of forest fires laid waste to more than 8,000 hectares (20,000 acres) of land. Interim governor Pavel Malkov said on Telegram the measure would facilitate mobilisation of resources "to protect inhabitants and territory." Malkov added that aerial surveillance indicated as much as 9,000 hectares of forest had been engulfed. Greenpeace cited satellite footage in estimating at least 11,000 hectare ... read more