Russian prosecutors are claiming a series of wildfires tearing through Siberian forests are the result of arsonists trying to cover up illegal logging activity, Reuters reports.
The fires, which have been deemed a “climate emergency,” have so far affected 2.5 million hectares of forestry, according to the country’s Federal Forestry Agency. Russian President Vladimir Putin recently called in the army to aid firefighters in battling the ongoing fires.
Greenpeace called the fires “unprecedented” in their size, according to Reuters.
“These fires should have been put out at the very beginning, but were ignored due to weak policies,” a Greenpeace spokesperson told Reuters. “Now it has grown into a climate catastrophe that cannot be stopped by human means.”
