"We always prepare for the worst, expecting the best"

More than 80% of forest fires in 2025 occurred in Transbaikalia and Buryatia, the head of the Federal Forestry Agency Ivan Advisers told Izvestia. These two regions accounted for 3.7 million hectares. At the same time, the fire did not spread to any locality. However, fires are a year—round phenomenon: the first ones usually start in early January in the south of Primorye, in the regions of the North Caucasus and Crimea, he recalled. In an exclusive interview with Izvestia, we will talk about how preparations are underway for the new forest fire season and which employees are missing to combat forest fires.

"Last year there was a climate paradox"

— The forest fire season has come to an end. What are its results and features of 2025?

— It was a difficult year. The forest fire season began almost a month earlier than usual — already in March there were significant fires not only in the southern and central, but even in the far eastern parts of the country. This is due to a variety of climatic anomalies.

For example, the extremely snowy second part of winter. Last year, a climate paradox occurred: snow fell early, there was really a lot of it in December 2024, but by mid-January it had melted, and there was no snow at all in the Central Region. Because of this, we predicted a very difficult season in the Central Federal District. In December 2025, the opposite situation occurred — by the end of the month there was no snow at all. And this means that less snow will accumulate by spring, so the situation was alarming.

For the regions of the Far East, April 2025 was the hottest in the history of meteorological monitoring. The air temperature was kept above the climatic norm by 5-7 degrees, precipitation was almost completely absent. The situation was complicated by strong winds — up to 25 m/s.

Despite all this, the season went well. The maximum limit on the permissible area of forest fires set by the government was 4.7 million hectares, we stayed at 4.3 million. In addition, we did not allow the fire to spread to any locality. And not a single person was injured because of the forest fire.

— Which regions are the leaders in the number of forest fires? And why them?

— The main fires in Russia were focused in Transbaikalia and Buryatia. More than 86% of fires occurred in six municipalities: four from Transbaikalia and two from Buryatia. These two regions accounted for 3.7 million hectares.

In the first days of April, an anticyclone entered the territory of Transbaikalia, where clear, dry and windy weather was established. This cyclone "collapsed" only by the end of June. In fact, there has not been a drop of precipitation in the region for 2.5 months. In addition, there are very poor conditions for extinguishing — rocky hills, shallow woods, no roads.

At the same time, we retained Yakutia, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Khabarovsk and other traditionally mountainous regions. However, this in no way gives a reason to relax, the goal is just to get together and move forward.

— What measures does Rosleskhoz take at the end of each season?

— Over the past three years, we have increased the forest fire protection zone by 200 million hectares, that is, the zone that is being actively extinguished. We are planning new patrol routes, brigades, jump squads, forces and facilities. We need money for this, and we have been allocated funding. Many thanks to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the government and the Ministry of Finance.

We have defined a step—by-step action plan for ourselves, and in 2026 we will fully bring funding for these control zones to the regions, which is plus 10 billion rubles. These funds will be used to extinguish forest fires, create infrastructure and recruit staff. These 200 million hectares will be fully funded. I am sure that this will increase the effectiveness of extinguishing forest fires.

— What is the forecast for next year, should we expect an early start of the season or, conversely, a late one? What factors does it depend on?

— We always prepare for the worst, expecting the best. So far, the winter part of the training is underway: drawing up consolidated plans for extinguishing forest fires, updating patrol routes. By February, we will receive an expanded forecast and understand what spring will be like. After that, we will return to staffing and training. We dedicate March–April to checking readiness.

We have a very large country with different climatic zones, so fires have already become a year-round phenomenon. The first fire traditionally occurs in early January in the south of Primorye, in the Caucasian regions, and in Crimea. By June, the northernmost territories will warm up, and then fires will most likely begin beyond the Arctic circle.

There are two main factors for predicting the situation: the presence of moisture in the soil and temperature.

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"We can replace manned aircraft with drones"

— What modern technologies were used to extinguish and monitor forest fires in 2025? Which ones are supposed to be used in the following?

— The use of drones, for example, by foresters is no longer a novelty. But we are expanding this practice more and more. I am confident that within a few years we will be able to replace manned aircraft with drones. We have two areas of work on this issue. The first one that we are already actively using is fire reconnaissance, that is, when a light drone rises on a fire and is monitored through it.

The second, more complex, is monitoring, where the drone must fly away for several hours and monitor the situation. We have already conducted a couple of experiments with this this year, and we will expand this practice by next year. In the next few years, we will completely replace aviation monitoring with drones.

— There is a shortage of employees in many segments of the economy. What about forestry?

— There are not enough people everywhere. For example, ministers in a number of regions are needed, and ordinary employees are needed. We are thinking about how to strengthen our cooperation with scientific and educational institutions. Traditionally, there are three problems. The first is salaries. And our task is to raise wages in forestry. For the second year, on behalf of Russian President Vladimir Putin, 3 billion rubles have been allocated for them, funds are being sent to the regions.

The second is the working conditions. Working in the woods is difficult and hard, and it's different from working in an office. For example, when our subordinate organization, Roslesinforg, is recruiting staff, we tell young people that they need to go on expeditions to the forest from May to September — they are surprised and ask if there will be a stable connection there. There are some standards of living, and the modern way of life requires that you stay in touch with your friends all the time. This is neither bad nor good. This is a modern way of life, and, of course, many people do not want to lose it.

Third, we must make the industry more efficient and modern. We believe that one person who will control the drone will be able to replace two or three at once. At the same time, his salary will be higher and at a decent level.

We have a good basic network — school forestry departments, a large network of secondary and higher educational institutions, and we are also actively working with them, attracting young people and making targeted recruitment. A lot of work is being done in this direction.

"There is no real problem of illegal logging"

— What is the situation with illegal logging this year?

— The volume of illegal logging is decreasing from year to year. This year, the volume decreased by 36%, the volume was 274.6 thousand cubic meters, which is less than a tenth of a percent of the total logging. A decade ago, illegal logging was an acute situation, but now there is simply no systemic problem of illegal logging. This was made possible thanks to the comprehensive decriminalization of the industry.

According to statistics, using the example of 2024, conifers are mainly illegally cut down — they account for about 70% of the volume; soft—leaved (birch, aspen) — 25%, hard-leaved - about 5%.

— How many cases of self-felling of Christmas trees were detected in 2025?

— In December 2024, the volume of illegal logging of Christmas trees for the New Year holidays decreased by 48%. On the eve of the holidays, the forest guard revealed 164 violations — their number decreased by 17% compared to the same period last year.

Let me remind you that administrative liability is provided for such actions: the fine for citizens is 3-4 thousand rubles, for officials — 20-40 thousand rubles, for legal entities — 200-300 thousand rubles.

If illegal logging is carried out using machinery, citizens will be fined 4-5 thousand rubles, officials — 40-50 thousand rubles, legal entities — 300-500 thousand rubles. In this case, the felled trees are confiscated, as well as, as a rule, the confiscation of the instrument of the offense. At the same time, if the damage caused to forests exceeds 5,000 rubles, then citizens can already be prosecuted under Article 260 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation "On illegal logging of forest plantations."