A HUGE blaze has broken out close to one of Moscow's main power plants, the latest mystery fire to damage Russia's key infrastructure.
An area of 2,500 square metres has reportedly gone up in flames next to the Dzerzhinsky power plant in the southeastern suburbs of Moscow.
Footage shared widely on social media shows an enormous column of black smoke pouring into the sky just metres from the power plant's chimneys.
A recycling plant is also ablaze, but the cause of the fire in the Russian capital is still unknown.
The plant is a thermal power plant, the second largest in the Nizhny Novgorod region, running mostly on natural gas.
It is the latest mystery fire to break out in the Russian capital in recent months in the wake of Vladimir Putin's brutal invasion of Ukraine.
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In April, another major blaze broke out in Dzerzhinsky, which was infamous during the Soviet era for producing chemical weapons.
The out-of-control fire started in the brick warehouse of a chemicals plant in the suburb, which has a number of defence-related facilities.
Also last month, flames ripped through the Russian defence ministry just metres from the Kremlin where President Putin was holding talks.
Some 50 people were evacuated as flames ripped through the site.
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The blaze was at a building known as Apraksin House, which has housed the administrative services of the Russian Ministry of Defence since 1987.
It is close to the headquarters of the defence ministry and is just several hundred yards from the Kremlin.
Putin was holding talks nearby at the Kremlin with Belarus dictator Alexander Lukashenko – an ally in his war with Ukraine.
And in February, a fire broke out close to a Russian weapons lab in the northern suburbs of Moscow.
The blaze began at a car service centre in the Otradnoe district, about 12 miles north of Red Square, at about 2am in the morning.
According to local reports, the fire was in close proximity to the Research Institute of Precision Instruments, which is part of Russia's state space agency.
Russian state media agency Tass News said 51 fire units were deployed to the Moscow site.
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