Earth News from TerraDaily.com
Black Sea oil spill hits Russian beach holiday plans
Moscow, April 18 (AFP) Apr 18, 2025
A massive Black Sea oil spill prompted Moscow's consumer watchdog on Friday to urge Russian holidaymakers to reconsider their summer plans, warning that the popular seaside resort of Anapa's beaches were unsafe.

The consumer rights agency Rospotrebnadzor found "non-compliance with sanitary and hygienic standards in sand and seawater samples" in Anapa and the Temryuksky District of the Krasnodar Region, a traditionally favoured destination for summer holidays in Russia.

More than 2,000 tonnes of oil products were released into the Black Sea after two ageing tankers sank in a heavy storm on December 15 in the Kerch Strait, between Moscow-annexed Crimea and the southern Russian Krasnodar region.

The spill has sparked an environmental disaster, harming many marine animals and birds.

With concern over the incident mounting, Russian President Vladimir Putin was shown being briefed on the spill response by a government official in a video released by the Kremlin on Monday.

Thousands of volunteers have flocked to the region to help clean up beaches and rescue animals caught up in the spill.

Government agencies had put the costs of the oil spill at almost $1 billion.

With Russians facing international travel restrictions since Moscow began its military offensive in Ukraine, Anapa hosts an ever-growing number of tourists, welcoming 5.5 million people last year.

Under Western sanctions, Russia has resorted to using a so-called "shadow fleet" of mostly old tankers to export its fuel around the world.

An investigation by Russia's transport watchdog found that the main reason for the spill was that the vessels were not certified to sail in that area of the sea at that time of year.





Space News from SpaceDaily.com
Study revisits chances of detecting alien technosignatures
Hypersonica completes milestone hypersonic missile flight test in Norway
NASA teams set for second Artemis II wet dress rehearsal

24/7 Energy News Coverage
US renews threat to leave IEA
Environmental groups sue Trump administration over scrapped climate rule
Turkey fires up coal pollution even as it hosts COP31

Military Space News, Nuclear Weapons, Missile Defense
Facing US warnings, Iran defends right to nuclear enrichment
Airbus says will back two new European fighter jets 'if clients request'
US to withdraw all troops from Syria: reports

24/7 News Coverage
'Unprecedented' emissions maps will hone mitigation
Sudan's historic acacia forest devastated as war fuels logging
Deadly Indonesia floods force a deforestation reckoning


ADVERTISEMENT



All rights reserved. Copyright Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.