Nine elderly people died and one was injured on Monday when flames swept through a retirement home in the Tver region northwest of Moscow, a local official of the emergencies ministry said, quoted by Russian news agencies.
The fire broke out at 0105 GMT in the retirement home in the town of Vyshni Volochyok, the official said.
Firemen arrived rapidly at the scene and brought the blaze under control at 0130 GMT, she added.
First reports said the fire occurred in a room that was completely burnt out. Nine people were found asphyxiated while one person was hospitalised in a serious condition, the official said.
More than 480 people were evacuated from the building, she said.
Scores of people die in Russia each year due to lax enforcement of fire safety regulations and inadequate Soviet-era infrastructure.
In January 2009, 23 people died in another retirement home blaze in north Russia's Komi republic while in August 2008 four elderly people died in a similar fire at a home in Shchebekino near the Ukrainian border.
In November 2007 at least 30 people died when their retirement home went up in smoke in the Tula region 200 kilometres south of Moscow.
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