Russian firefighters on Friday battled a fire of “7,000 square metres” that broke out in a shopping centre in a Moscow suburb, emergency services said.
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“In the Moscow region, firefighters are putting out a fire the size of 7,000 square metres,” Russia’s ministry of emergency situations said, Reuters reported. The fire broke out at the Mega Khimki shopping centre in the northern suburb of Khimki.
Emergency services suspect ‘arson’ in massive Moscow fire, Russian news agencies reported.
“Deliberate acts, as in arson, is being considered,” Interfax news agency said. Sputnik news agency also reported that arson was suspected as a cause for the blaze.
The Mega shopping centre in Khimki near the Russian capital had been home to a large number of Western retail chains before the companies’ departure from Russia in the wake of the Ukraine conflict.
