Moscow - Temperatures on Thursday soared to 38.2 degrees Celsius in the Russian capital, the highest since records began more than 150 years ago, the Moscow Weather Office said.

Moscow has been in the grip of an unprecedented heatwave since the start of the month.

The second highest temperature ever recorded was registered on Monday when the mercury hit 37.2 degrees Celsius, easily beating the previous record of 36.8 degrees from July 1920.

The heat has caused a series of forest fires in western and southern Russia, which have threatened villages and forced evacuations.

Seven summer camps for children and three hospitals were evacuated in the Voronezh region, 600km south of Moscow, the ministry of emergency situations said.

President Dmitry Medvedev telephoned the governor of the region and demanded information on measures taken to tackle the fires, the official Ria Novosti news agency reported.

Russian media have reported cases of entire villages being enveloped in different fires across the parched country, including a village in Nizhny Novgorod east of Moscow were 341 houses were destroyed and nearly 600 inhabitants evacuated. - Sapa-AFP