Sweltering Russia

Record heat and drought in Russia have led to forest fires in much of the European part of the country.

As many as 73 large forest fires as well as underground peat fires have caused Moscow to be shrouded in thick smoke. The fires have caused 50 deaths and left about 4,000 homeless.

Muscovites have worn surgical masks or held handkerchiefs to their faces, although the smoke eased a bit Tuesday. The environment has proved so unhealthy that Russia's public health chief asked last week that people take off from work, if possible, and leave the city or stay indoors, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Yet the traffic leaving Moscow, whether by car, train or plane has been congested. Air travel has been hampered by smoke.

The fires have caused $15 billion in damages, or 1 percent of Gross Domestic Product, according to the business newspaper Kommersant. The army has been deployed to help firefighters combat the blazes.

Russia's hottest summer in 130 years of record-keeping has also ruined more than one-third of its wheat crop. The government has issued a ban on grain exports, beginning Aug. 15. That may keep food costs down in Russia but will spike prices globally if other countries hoard their grain supplies.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has been visibly engaged in combating the disaster, meeting with distraught villagers, promising them homes by fall and even helping to fight fires himself. President Dmitry Medvedev initially was reluctant to leave his Black Sea vacation, the Associated Press reported.

Such disasters, which prove too big for anyone to handle well, often have political repercussions.

But Russians are eagerly anticipating relief from the summer of 2010. As one woman who left Moscow for her cottage well outside the city told the Journal: "Never in my entire life have I been so happy to have a dacha."