OREANDA-NEWS. Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said that in a telephone conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, he requested a second Bez-200 aircraft to extinguish forest fires.

“Today I had an extensive telephone conversation with my Russian colleague S. Lavrov. They discussed fire fighting and a request to discuss the possibility of sending another Be-200 to help,” Dendias wrote on his Twitter account.

Since June 30, a Russian Be-200 has been in Greece, which daily participates in extinguishing numerous wildfires and, according to the Greeks, has shown high efficiency.

Dendias said that the possibilities of deepening bilateral relations between Greece and Russia were also considered.

"In this context, an exchange of views took place on the upcoming visits in the fall," the Greek Foreign Minister wrote.

According to him, they also discussed relations between the European Union and Greece and the possibility of cooperation on civil protection issues.

In Greece, a record heat was set in the past 40 years. Last week, August 3, the temperature in some areas reached 47 degrees Celsius. Violent wildfires have been raging in the country for a week. The strongest of them were in the metropolitan region of Attica, the Peloponnese and Evia, where more than a thousand people were evacuated by ferries. The ban on visiting forests, national parks, natural areas and groves in Greece has been extended until August 13.