Mr Shoigu reported to the President on measures taken to prevent the effects of spring floods and summer forest fires.
The Emergency Minister also said that 13,000 schools were closed due to fire safety concerns in 2003. The ministry decided to close the schools after it had inspected more than 150,000 schools in Russia’s towns and villages.
The ministry developed a programme that will supply Russia’s schools with modern firefighting equipment.
According to the Minister, 11,500 units of equipment have already been delivered to schools.
Mr Shoigu praised the work of the Russian fire service and said that a year and a half ago, when the service was handed to the Emergency Situations Ministry, the level of its technical readiness was about 37%. Now it amounts to 86%, the Minister said.