Russian volcano erupts for first time in nearly 500 years
Ash clouds shot into the sky as Krasheninnikov - which is named after explorer Stepan Krasheninnikov - became active on August 2, just days after an 8.8-magnitude earthquake hit the Kamchatka Peninsula on July 30.
According to the US-based Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program, the volcano - located in Kronotsky Nature Reserve to the south of Lake Kronotskoye - last erupted around 1550.
Krasheninnikov has a large caldera about 12km in diameter, which has two overlapping cones, each topped with a crater.
No ashfall has landed in places where Russian citizens live, and the huge plume above the volcano is moving "eastward" towards the "Pacific Ocean".
Accompanying the eruption of Krasheninnikov on August 2 was a 7.0-magnitude earthquake, as well as a tsunami warning for three areas of Kamchatka.
The tsunami warning has now been lifted.
In a Telegram post, Kamchatka's emergencies ministry wrote: "The plume is spreading eastward from the volcano toward the Pacific Ocean.
"There are no populated areas along its path, and no ashfall has been recorded in inhabited localities."
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