An elderly man was killed during a fire...

The blaze broke out in the kitchen of an apartment on the fourth storey of a nine-storey building. The fire is believed to have started as the result of a short circuit.

The victim was a man in his eighties, the spokesperson said.

Russia has an appalling fire-safety record. Around 15,000 people die in fires across the country annually. In the United States, with more than twice the population, the figure is around 3,400 deaths a year.

MOSCOW, March 13 (RIA Novosti)