The Russian government said it has sent some 240,000 people to fight the blazes, which are among the worst ever to hit the region, the Interfax news agency reported. Two firefighters were among the dead, the Itar-Tass news agency reported, citing the Emergency Ministry.

The fires have destroyed 1,257 homes across 14 regions, the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations said. It said 2,825 people have been left homeless.

A hot, dry summer has been a key factor in the fires, drying out large parts of land and igniting the peat bogs that lie all over central Russia.

The government has sent 226 aircraft to fight the fires, Sergei Shaposhnikov, the head of the civil defense department at the Emergency Situations Ministry, told Interfax.

Latest figures from the ministry showed some 121,500 hectares (300,105 acres) of forest were burning on July 31. There were also 18 peat bog fires.

More than 3,000 people evacuated from fire-stricken areas are being housed at 12 temporary settlements, Interfax reported.

President Dmitry Medvedev ordered the Defense Ministry on Friday to use the military to help tackle the fires, the president's spokeswoman, Natalya Timakova, told the Interfax news agency.

Putin said the families of those who died in wildfires would each receive 1 million rubles (US$33,000) in compensation. He also said the government would allocate around 3 million rubles (US$100,000) to rebuild the destroyed homes.