An emergency task force arrived in Russia鈥檚 southern Krasnodar region on Sunday as an oil spill in the Kerch Strait from two storm-stricken tankers continues to spread a month after it was first detected, officials said.
The task force, which includes Emergency Situations Minister Alexander Kurenkov, was set up after Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday called on authorities to ramp up the response to the spill, calling it 鈥渙ne of the most serious environmental challenges we have faced in recent years."
Kurenkov said that 鈥渢he most difficult situation鈥� had developed near the port of Taman in the Krasnodar region, where fuel oil continues to leak into the sea from the damaged part of the Volgoneft-239 tanker.
Kurenkov was quoted as saying by Russian state news agency RIA Novosti that the remaining oil will be pumped out of the tanker's stern.
The Emergencies Ministry said Saturday that over 155,000 tons of contaminated sand and soil had been collected since oil spilled out of during a storm four weeks ago in the Kerch Strait, which separates the Russia-occupied Crimean Peninsula from the Krasnodar region.
Russian-installed officials in Ukraine鈥檚 partially Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia region said Saturday that the mazut 鈥� a heavy, low-quality oil product 鈥� had reached the Berdyansk Spit, some 145 kilometers (90 miles) north of the Kerch Strait. It contaminated an area 14 1/2-kilometer (9-mile) long, Moscow-installed Gov. Yevgeny Balitsky wrote on Telegram.
Russian-appointed officials in Moscow-occupied Crimea announced a regional emergency last weekend after on the shores of Sevastopol, the peninsula鈥檚 largest city, about 250 kilometers (155 miles) from the Kerch Strait.
In response to Putin鈥檚 call for action, Ukraine鈥檚 Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi accused Russia of 鈥渂eginning to demonstrate its alleged 鈥榗oncern鈥� only after the scale of the disaster became too obvious to conceal its terrible consequences.鈥�
鈥淩ussia鈥檚 practice of first ignoring the problem, then admitting its inability to solve it, and ultimately leaving the entire Black Sea region alone with the consequences is yet another proof of its international irresponsibility,鈥� Tykhyi said Friday.
The Kerch Strait is an important global shipping route, providing passage from the inland Sea of Azov to the Black Sea. It has also been a key point of conflict between Russia and Ukraine after Moscow in 2014.
In 2016, Ukraine took Moscow to the Permanent Court of Arbitration, where it accused Russia of trying to seize control of the area illegally. In 2021, Russia closed the strait for several months.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy鈥檚 office, described the oil spill last month as a 鈥渓arge-scale environmental disaster鈥� and called for additional sanctions on Russian tankers.
The Associated Press
