At least nine people were injured following a gas blast and fire in the Harbin restaurant in St Petersburg on Friday, the local emergency ministry said.
“According to initial information, the fire occured before the blast,” an emergencies ministry source said.
Nine people were killed in a similar incident in a restaurant near Moscow on February 19, and ten died in a huge blast caused by a gas leak in the city of Astrakhan on Monday.
On Thursday, First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov called for tighter regulations relating to gas supply to domestic buildings.