Finance
Ukraine blames Russia for Black Sea oil spill
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on December 16, 2024
2 min readLast updated: January 27, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
Company
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on December 16, 2024
2 min readLast updated: January 27, 2026
Ukraine blames Russia for a Black Sea oil spill, citing outdated tankers and navigation violations during a storm.
(Reuters) - Ukraine said on Monday Russia was to blame for a major oil spill in the Kerch Strait that leads into the Black Sea, accusing Moscow of breaking navigation safety rules by using old tankers and keeping two vessels at sea during a storm.
A Russian oil tanker split apart during a storm on Sunday, while another one ended up in distress in the strait that separates Russia from the Crimean Peninsula that Moscow's troops seized and annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
Russia did not say how much fuel was leaked but its state news agency TASS reported the two vessels had been carrying 9,200 metric tons of oil products.
"The Russians have a rather complicated situation... in the Azov and the Black Sea region. They use an outdated fleet: these ships were more than 50 years old," Dmytro Pletenchuk, a spokesperson for Ukraine's navy, told Reuters by phone.
The vessel that was torn apart, the Volgoneft 212, dates back to 1969 and the Volgoneft 239 was built in 1973, according to certificates seen by Reuters.
Pletenchuk said the vessels in the accident were designed to transfer oil products along rivers and load them onto other vessels at sea and were not meant to be used in stormy weather.
The two vessels had earlier turned off their AIS identification system, a global naval navigation system, making it impossible to identify their locations using satellites, he added.
(Reporting by Yuliia Dysa; Editing by Ros Rusell)
The article discusses Ukraine blaming Russia for an oil spill in the Black Sea due to outdated tankers and navigation violations.
The spill occurred when a Russian tanker split during a storm, and another was in distress, both using outdated vessels.
The spill raises concerns about maritime safety and environmental impact in the Black Sea region.
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