The flames ravaged an area of 4,500 square meters and caused the internal structures of the building to collapse.
A huge fire broke out in an office building on Monday, in the industrial zone of the town of Fryazino, located about 25 km northeast of Moscow.
Initial reports indicate eight victims, with only one of the nine people who were inside when the flames broke out having been rescued.
The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry broadcast a video showing fire engines and helicopters around a building where thick smoke is coming from.
The fire spread over an area of 4,500 square meters and led to the collapse of internal structures of the building, according to the ministry.
More than 100 firefighters and 40 vehicles were engaged to put out the fire which ravaged shared offices around thirty companies.
Some sources claim that the Platan research institute – a Russian producer of defense electronics recently sanctioned by the United States for interfering in foreign elections – is one of them.
Ruselectronics, the parent company of Platan, disputes this information. In a statement published by Russian state news agency Tass, the company said the building passed into private ownership in the 1990s and that the institute was no longer a tenant.
According to initial information from Tass, the fire was caused by an electrical problem.
