US sending equipment to fight wildfires burning across Russia

The White House said President Barack Obama called Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday to express his condolences for the losses his country has suffered.

The wildfires have been caused by the hottest summer ever recorded in Russia, with Moscow's death rate doubling to 700 people a day.

The White House said several US agencies, including the Defence Department, and the state of California were airlifing firefighting equipment to Russia.

Heavy downpours yesterday cooled Moscow after weeks of no rain and unprecedented heat but did not quell the wildfires still raging around the Russian capital.

The city remained largely free of the clouds of suffocating smog that affected it earlier, but weather experts say smoke from burning forests and peat bogs may choke the city again if the wind direction changes.

Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry said more than 500 wildfires were continuing to burn across the country, including 29 around Moscow. It said about 14,000 firefighters are battling blazes around the Russian capital.

The heat, unprecedented in 130 years of record-keeping, has cost Russia more than a third of its wheat crop.