MOSCOW, October 6. /TASS/: The smoke at the Russian Foreign Ministry's office, to which Moscow fire crews responded earlier on Saturday evening, was caused by a short circuit that had not led to a fire, a spokesperson for the Russian emergencies ministry said on Saturday.
"An examination established that a short circuit occurred, but no fire followed. There were no reports of injuries. All crews are returning back to their bases," the emergencies ministry’s Moscow office said.
An emergencies source earlier told TASS fire crews had responded to reports of fire at the Russian Foreign Ministry’s main office in downtown Moscow late on Saturday. Later reports said smoke had been detected in the basement of the building, and nine fire crews were working at the scene.
The information was later confirmed by the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Russian emergencies ministry.
According to the emergencies ministry, firefighters were informed about smoke at the Foreign Ministry’s main office in downtown Moscow at 22:19 Moscow time. First firefighting crews arrived four minutes later and immediately started to check the building. The examination revealed no sources of open fire.
The Russian Foreign Ministry thanked rescuers via social networks for their prompt response.
"The story has a good ending: the source [of ignition] was contained," the ministry said via Facebook and Twitter. "No one was injured. We thank the Emergency Situations Ministry for their prompt response.".
