Fire near Moscow Airport extinguished ahead of Tillerson visit

A Reuters photographer at Moscow's Vnukovo airport said on Tuesday there was black smoke rising from a part of the airfield where planes are parked.

The fire that broke out next to the Moscow airport where U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was due to arrive has been extinguished, reports said.

The emergency situations ministry said on Tuesday about 100 square meters of grass caught fire just outside the Vnukovo airport before Tillerson's plane landed.

Live footage from the scene showed tall clouds of black smoke billowing just over the tarmac.

Tillerson is in Moscow to meet with Russian officials about the civil war in Syria.

The airport said in a separate statement that the fire was outside the airport and it didn't affect its operations.