Small blaze was put out shortly after it started with no casualties, TASS news agency said MOSCOW: A fire briefly broke out at a building belonging to Russia’s defense ministry in the center of Moscow on Wednesday evening, Russian state news agencies reported, citing emergency services. Footage shared by state media outlets on social media showed a thin plume of dark smoke rising from the defense ministry’s headquarters in Moscow on Znamenka street, near the Kremlin. The small blaze was put out shortly after it started with no casualties, the TASS news agency reported. “Around 19:30 (16:30 GMT), in one of the administrative buildings of the defense ministry in Moscow, duty workers detected smoke on the premises. The fire department and ministry of emergency situations came to the scene,” Interfax cited the defense ministry as saying in a statement. The fire covered an area of 60 square meters (646 square feet), TASS cited local emergency services as saying. The defense ministry said it was currently establishing the cause of the fire.