 But the country lacked equipment for fighting forest fires, having aeroplanes that were too small to carry enough water to douse the fires.In a bid to obtain bigger aircraft, the government leased two Beriev Be-200 aircraft from Russia, which are capable of skimming over water and taking on loads for sustained firefighting efforts.The planes, which will be flown by Russians and maintained by Russian technicians, were due to begin operations on 1 November.