This article was originally published in English
The Kerch Strait is an important global shipping route, connecting the Sea of Azov bay to the Black Sea and was a key point of conflict between Russia and Ukraine after Moscow annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014
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An emergency task force has arrived in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region to fight an oil spill that continues to spread across the Kerch Strait, a month after two oil tankers collided in a storm.
The team, which also includes Emergency Situations Minister Alexander Kurenkov, was established after Friday Russian President Vladimir Putin called on authorities to step up the response to the spill, calling it “one of the most serious environmental challenges we have faced in recent years.”
Kurenkov declared that a “very difficult situation” near the port of Tamanin the Russian region in front of the Crimea of Krasnodar, where fuel oil continues to leak into the sea from the damaged part of the Volgoneft-239 oil tanker. The remaining oil will be pumped out of the vessel’s stern, according to Russian state news agency Ria Novosti.
Kilometers of contaminated coastline in Ukraine and Russia
The Ministry of Emergency Situations said they were collected over 155 thousand tons of contaminated sand and earth since oil leaked from tankers during a storm four weeks ago in the Kerch Strait, which separates the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula from Russia’s Krasnodar region.
Officials installed by Russia in Ukraine’s partially Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia region said Saturday that mazut, a heavy, low-quality petroleum product, has reached Berdyansk Bay, about 145 kilometers north of the Kerch Strait. Ha contaminated an area over 14 kilometers longGovernor Yevgeny Balitsky wrote on Telegram.
Russian officials in occupied Crimea have announced aregional emergency last weekend after it was detected oil on the coasts of Sevastopolthe largest city on the peninsula.
Ukraine accuses Russia of trying to hide the disaster
In response to Putin’s call for action, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi accused Russia of “beginning to demonstrate its concern only after the The scale of the disaster has become too obvious to hide its terrible consequences“.
“Russia’s practice of first ignoring the problem, then admitting its inability to solve it, and finally leaving the entire Black Sea region alone with the consequences is yet another proof of its international irresponsibility,” Tykhyi said on Friday .
Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, described last month’s oil spill as a “large-scale environmental disaster” and called further sanctions against Russian oil tankers.
The Kerch Strait is aimportant global shipping routewhich provides a passage from the Sea of Azov bay to the Black Sea. It was also a key point of conflict between Russia and Ukraine after Moscow annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014.
In 2016, Ukraine took Russia to the Permanent Court of Arbitration, where it accused Moscow of trying to illegally take control of the area. In 2021, Russia closed the strait for several months.
