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© ReutersDetermined: A newly-married couple walks along Red Square amidst the heavy cloud of smog
The thick blanket of white smog which hangs over Russia was not enough to put off some determined brides from tying the knot today.

The women, barely visible in their white dresses, went ahead with their nuptials, despite the shroud of smog that has descended on the country.

The eerie cloud, which has caused a fourfold increase in airborne pollutants, including carbon monoxide, is the result of forest fires which have killed 50 people nationwide.

Flights at international airports have been grounded and visibility in the capital is down to a few dozen yards as the fires continue to tear through forests and villages.

Russians wore protective face masks as dozens of forest and peat bog fires around the city continued to burn, fanned by south-easterly winds and the country's most intense heat wave in 130 years.

More than 500 separate blazes are active today, mainly across Russia's European territory, according to the Emergencies Ministry.

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© AFP/Getty ImagesThe dancehall has burst into flames... A recently pronounced husband and wife pose over a pedestrian bridge in Moscow
Yelena Galanova, a spokesman for Domodedovo Airport, said 15 flights were diverted to other airports overnight, significantly delaying outgoing flights on the same aircraft.

Visibility on the runway was down to 400 metres, less than half the average, and air traffic controllers were offering all incoming flights an option to divert to other nearby airports, she said.

Up to 2,000 homes have been destroyed and officials have suggested that the 10,000 firefighters is not enough to battle the blazes.

The forecast for the week ahead, with predicted temperatures approaching 38C (100F), shows little change in the capital and surrounding areas.

Officials are also scrambling to minimise any further damage after a military base was decimated.

Explosives have been evacuated from military facilities and planes, helicopters and even robots have been used to help control the fires around the country's top nuclear research facility in Sarov, 300 miles east of Moscow.

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© APDay to remember: A newly wed couple pose for photographs in the dense smog
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© AFP/Gety ImagesChoking: Russians walking in Red Square wearing facemasks. Authorities have questioned whether the 10,000 firefighters tackling the blaze is enough to put them out
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© ReutersSmog: The Kremlin in Moscow is barely visible as clouds of smoke from peat bog and forest fires blanket the city
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© APTravel chaos: St Basil's Cathedral is visible through the gloom. International flights have had to be grounded or diverted because of the fires
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© APProtection: Two women wear face masks as Moscow is blanketed in thick smog from hundreds of wildfires raging across Russia
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© EPATinder dry: Fifty people have been killed in the fires as Russia endures its most intense heatwave for 180 years
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© ReutersOn ceremony: Russian soldiers form an honour guard as smoke engulfs the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
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© APRecord heatwave: Temperatures are expected to hit 38C in Russia next week, fuelling fears the fires could spread even more
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© AP
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© AFP/Getty ImagesSmiling through it: Two teenagers enjoy a joke despite their facemasks as the fires look set to continue until next week
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© AFP/Getty ImagesToxic: Levels of carbon monoxide are four times the average in Moscow
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© EPAStruggle: A firefighter battles the flames near the village of Ryazanovskiy, which have already destroyed a military base and now threaten a nuclear research facility
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© APCapacity: This Nasa satellite image shows the full extent of more than 500 fires tears through the Russian countryside