Blackened shores, slimy heaps carried by the current, hundreds of birds with oil-stained wings cleaned and cared for as best they could, trapped fish and poisoned porpoises, more than 30 cetaceans found dead... The videos visible on Russian social media testify to the scale of the oil slick that has been affecting the coasts of south-west Russia and Crimea since December 15.

That day, two Russian tankers, the Volgoneft-212 and Volgoneft-239, ran aground in a storm in the Kerch Strait between Russia and Crimea, a Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Moscow. The two vessels were carrying 9,200 tonnes of fuel oil. Officially, around 40% of this volume may have spilled into the sea.

Since then, the oil slick has continued to spread, not only along the Russian coast but also in Crimea, and it has now reached the city of Sevastopol, the peninsula's military port. On December 27, 2024, the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources, without attempting to conceal the extent of the issue, announced that up to 200,000 metric tons of soil may have been polluted. On December 19, the head of the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin, had himself spoken of an "environmental catastrophe."

You have 79.89% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.