'Scary' scenes as fumes from burning forests cover Lake Baikal, with people - and bears - fleeing 'Apocalypse'.

Girgory Pasko struck on head in Siberian city after arriving to hold seminar for local reporters and bloggers.

Radiation, chemical and biological forces tackle two million tonnes of toxic chemical waste with huge mercury stockpile and oil poisons.

Officials deny any risk of atomic contamination from the site in Sakha Republic.

The remarkable rescue and evacuation effort was needed because of a severe break-up in the ice sheet due to global warming.

Waste threatens 11,000 people in Pervomaisk after 'violation of safety rules’.

Oilmen forced to stop work after being trapped in 'horseshoe' of burning taiga, as pall of smoke smothers Irkutsk region where state of emergency imposed.

Lena Pillars, a World Heritage Site, hit by the rampant flames, as calls grow for greater efforts to tackle infernos.

Both Greenpeace and the World Wildlife Fund are expressing grave concern at the risk of contamination in the Pechora Sea.

With smoke having blown as far as the US and Canada, experts now say 'the trend is positive' in controlling fires raging from the Urals to the Pacific.