An emergency task force has arrived in the southern region of Russia. Krasnodar Sunday as an oil spill in the region Strait of Kerch The outbreak continues a month after it was first detected in two tankers affected by the storm, officials said.
The task force, which includes Emergencies Minister Alexander Korenkov, was established after Russian President Vladimir Putin On Friday, it called on authorities to step up its response to the outbreak, calling it “one of the most serious environmental challenges we have faced in recent years”.
Korenkov said the “most difficult situation” had arisen near the port of Taman in the Krasnodar region, where fuel oil continued to leak into the sea from the wreckage of the Volgoneft-239 tanker.
Russian state news agency RIA Novosti quoted Kurenkov as saying that the remaining oil would be pumped out of the tanker's stern.
The Emergencies Ministry said on Saturday that the Kerch Strait, which separates the Russian-held Crimean peninsula from the Krasnodar region, has spilled more than 155,000 tonnes of oil since two tankers spilled during a storm four weeks ago. Contaminated sand and soil were collected.
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Authorities in the Russian installation in Ukraine's partially Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia region said on Saturday that mazut – a heavy, low-quality oil product – had reached the Berdyansk Spit, about 145 kilometers north of the Kerch Strait. (90 miles) away. It contaminated a 14 1/2-kilometer (9-mile) area, Moscow-based governor Yevgeny Baltsky wrote in a telegram.
A regional emergency was declared late last week after Russian-appointed officials in Moscow-held Crimea found oil off the coast of Sevastopol, the peninsula's largest city, about 250 kilometers (155 miles) from the Kerch Strait. What was announced?
Responding to Putin's call for action, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry spokesman Khorhi Tikhi accused Russia of “showing its alleged 'concern' only when the scale of the destruction hides its dire consequences.” became very clear to.”
“Russia's act of first ignoring the problem, then admitting its inability to solve it, and ultimately leaving the entire Black Sea region alone with its consequences, is a sign of its international Another proof of irresponsibility.”
The Kerch Strait is an important global shipping route, connecting the inland Sea of Azov to the Black Sea. It has also been a major point of contention between Russia and Ukraine since Moscow annexed the peninsula in 2014.
In 2016, Ukraine took Moscow to the Permanent Court of Arbitration, where it accused Russia of trying to illegally occupy the territory. In 2021, Russia closed the strait for several months.
Mykhailo Podoliak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi's chief of office, last month called the oil spill a “massive environmental disaster” and called for additional sanctions on Russian tankers.
and copy 2025 Canadian Press