Russia warns of severe environmental damage as oil from damaged tankers washes up on beaches

Russian officials warned of severe environmental damage Wednesday as thousands of people came out to clean up tons of fuel oil that spilled out of two storm-stricken tankers more than two weeks ago in the Kerch Strait, near Moscow-occupied Crimea.

More than 10,000 people, largely volunteers, raced to rescue wildlife and remove tons of sand saturated with mazut, a heavy, low-quality oil product, according to Russian news reports.

Authorities in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region last week announced a region-wide emergency, as the fuel oil continued washing up on the coastline 10 days after one tanker ran aground and the other was left damaged and adrift on Dec. 15.

The move came days after Russian President Vladimir Putin called the oil spill an “ecological disaster.”

On Wednesday, New Year’s Day, Krasnodar officials said the oil kept on surfacing on the beaches of Anapa, a popular local resort.

More than 71,000 tons of contaminated sand and soil had been removed along 56 kilometers (35 miles) of shoreline since the original spill, Russia’s emergencies ministry reported on Wednesday morning.

On Dec. 23, the ministry estimated that up to 200,000 tons in total may have been contaminated.

Some Russian media critical of the Kremlin cited Russian volunteers as saying that state support has been inadequate as they grapple with the consequences of the spill. Some said they experienced headaches, nausea and vomiting after spending hours inhaling toxic fumes, and complained of insufficient equipment and protective measures.

Others called for international specialists to be sent in, citing the scale of the spill and the likely extent of the impact.

Photos circulating on social media and local news channels showed seabirds coated in black fuel oil.

The spill may have killed more than 20 dolphins, the local Delfa dolphin rescue centre said, adding tests were ongoing to ascertain the cause of the deaths.

The Kerch Strait separates the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula from Russia and 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 annexed the peninsula 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 the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, last month described the oil spill as a “large-scale environmental disaster” and called for additional sanctions on Russian tankers.