Oil Spill From Russia’s Shadow Fleet Reaches Crimean Shores Causing Ecological Disaster

Russian Authorities stated that an oil leak from the 2 damaged tankers had reached the Crimean Peninsula which Russia had annexed from Ukraine.

The tankers, Volgoneft-212 and Volgoneft-239 were loaded with 9200 tonnes of heavy fuel oil when they were caught in a storm in December, causing them to spill their cargo into the sea.

Russian President Vladimir Putin called it an ecological disaster. He added that several volunteers had joined the massive cleanup efforts.

More than 10,000 people are engaged in rescuing wildlife from the shores and removing tonnes of sand saturated with mazut, which is a heavy oil-based fuel, per Russian media reports.

Around 73,000 tonnes of contaminated sand has been removed from the beaches, of the 200,000 tonnes affected.

Ukraine has called it the biggest spill in the region and accused Russia of using old ships no longer suitable for plying in harsh winters.

Kyiv said that due to Western sanctions against Russian companies and ships, Moscow is using a shadow fleet comprised of ageing ships to move its goods across the globe.

Over a thousand tankers of the Shadow Fleet are outdated and have fictitious documents and insurance which are used to hide the identity of the owners.

References: DW, Times of India

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