Servicemen help freezing people in Russian North-West and Far East

The Leningrad and Far Eastern military districts are helping the local bodies of authority and the population to handle the strong frosts.

RIA Novosti was told at the defence ministry's press service on Thursday that the help had been organised on the instructions of Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov.

Operative groups to liquidate the after-maths of the natural calamity and render assistance to the population who suffered from strong frosts and snowdrifts were formed in the garrisons and military units.

The press service reported that to combat the elements, the Leningrad military district had allotted 12 units of car-and-tractor equipment as well as mobile electric power stations, five mobile heat and ventilation installations with the servicing personnel and 50 sets of furnaces for warming the buildings. The district's personnel have cleared 15 km of snowdrifts.

More than 100 servicemen are engaged in rendering assistance to the population in the Far Eastern military district, using 16 items of equipment and 15 tons of fuel. The military have already repaired six electric power stations.