Lights go off around Moscow as Russian marks the Earth Hour

Campaigners in Russia marked Earth Hour on Saturday with lights switching off at Moscow's iconic buildings for 60 minutes. Activists of World Wide Fund, WWF, gathered on the Red Square with candles to promote climate change awareness. Some of the events planned on the day were cancelled in several Russian cities after a deadly plane crash in the country's southern city of Rostov-on-Don that killed 62 people on board of Flydubai jet flying from Dubai. "The goal of this event is to remind of exhaustibility of natural riches, of our resources. And about finiteness of a human life. And today we became witnesses of an event showing how easily it can cut off," Russian Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology Sergei Donskoy said. Over 1000 buildings in Moscow including the Kremlin and the House of the Government of the Russian Federation took part in the international environmental event. Moscow first joined Earth Day in 2009 according to WWF. The illumination of Kremlin was first switched off for Earth Hour in 2013. Earth Hour began in Sydney in 2007 asking households and businesses to switch off their lights for 60 minutes to curb global carbon pollution and show their commitment to the planet.