As Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko had private meetings yesterday, a fire burned beside the Kremlin.
Emergency personnel flocked to a fire at a Moscow defense ministry building at 19 Znamenka Street while the two leaders spoke.
Spectacular film displays smoke rising into the sky and flowing from windows.
The source of the fire is yet unknown, however approximately 50 people were evacuated.
The fire took place 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 situated just several hundreds yards from the Kremlin.
In a statement, Russia’s defence ministry said: ‘Around 19:30 (16:30 GMT), in one of the administrative buildings of the defence ministry in Moscow, duty workers detected smoke on the premises.
‘The fire department and ministry of emergency situations came to the scene.’
Some reports said the section of the building on fire was a department of military property dealing with facilities across the country.
No injuries were reported.
As firefighters battle to extinguish the flames, Putin was believed to be holding talks with Lukashenko – an ally in his war with Ukraine – in the Kremlin.
Unexplained fires in Russia have been reported at factories, barracks and even a former Ikea store in recent months.
Ukrainian intelligence chief, Major-General Kyrylo Budanov told Forbes last month that the country was seeing many unusual explosions and fires.
‘Much of this is no accident,’ he said, admitting that Ukraine was paying Russian saboteurs.
‘Something is constantly on fire [in Russia].
‘Signalling equipment on railways, it lights up several times a day, on various highways constantly for two to three hours, sometimes for five to six hours, traffic gets suspended.’