In anticipation of the holiday, the prime minister approves new regulations on fireworks and other pyrotechnics.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signed a resolution that imposes restrictions on the use of consumer pyrotechnics. For the first time, a ban will be imposed on setting off fireworks in a variety of locations, including stages, stadiums, historical and cultural sites, nature reserves, nature protected areas, national parks, and cemeteries.
The text of the resolution failed to appear on the government site, but is known to impose tougher fire safety rules on the use of pyrotechnics. According to Emergencies Minister Sergey Shoigu, the document forbids the use of fireworks "on any premises," including the grounds of explosion and fire-prone facilities, on railways, and near oil and gas pipelines and high-voltage power lines. The ban on the use of fireworks also covers the roofs of buildings and balconies. No pyrotechnics can be used during rallies and marches. The restrictions were first envisaged in the "Recommendations on Fire Safety when Selling Consumer Pyrotechnics" approved by the Emergencies Ministry of the Russian Federation in 2006. Now, the government resolution substantially expands them: fireworks are banned on "stages, stadiums and at other sporting facilities, as well as on historical and cultural sites, in nature reserves, protected areas, national parks, and cemeteries."
The toughening of the rules for the use of pyrotechnics comes three weeks after a fire at the Lame Horse club in Perm on December 5 that claimed 150 lives. Immediately after the accident, the Ministry for Emergencies launched a sweeping check of night clubs all over Russia. In early December, Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov introduced an almost total ban on the use of fireworks in the city.
"The authorities may use the new rules as a new instrument of pressure on citizens planning to stage protest actions," the leader of the Left Front movement, Sergey Udaltsov, told Kommersant. His comrades regularly use flares during their protest actions. "Police in Moscow have long been using this instrument, and the ban, previously contained only in the Moscow Administrative Code, will now apply throughout Russia." "The use of fireworks at stadiums is banned under the rules of spectator behaviour during matches," Ivan Katanayev, the leader of the fans of the Moscow Spartak team, Fratria, told Kommersant. "However, fines of several hundred roubles hardly deter anyone. If the government resolution is backed by higher fines, then nobody will be prepared to pay a lot of money just to use fireworks."
Ivan Buranov