An emergency task force, including Russian Emergency Situations Minister Alexander Kurenkov, was deployed to the southern Krasnodar region to address an ongoing oil spill in the Kerch Strait.
The spill, caused by storm-damaged tankers over the weekend of December 14-15, 2024, has persisted for over a month and was labeled by President Vladimir Putin as “one of the most serious environmental challenges” in recent years. The Volgoneft-239 tanker, near the port of Taman, remains a critical concern, with fuel oil still leaking into the sea, CNN reports. Authorities plan to pump out the remaining oil to mitigate further damage.
The spill has resulted in over 155,000 tons of contaminated sand and soil being collected, with the mazut, a heavy oil product, contaminating areas as far as the Berdyansk Spit and Sevastopol in Crimea.
Local emergencies have been declared, and the spill’s reach underscores the environmental and geopolitical complexities of the Kerch Strait, a vital shipping route linking the Sea of Azov to the Black Sea.
Ukraine criticized Russia’s delayed response, accusing it of neglecting the disaster and jeopardizing the Black Sea region. Ukrainian officials have called for additional sanctions against Russian tankers, emphasizing the spill’s broader implications amid ongoing tensions in the region.