Anapa City Hall Increases Compensation Requirements for Owners of Sunken Fuel Oil Tankers

More than 800 bags of fuel oil have been raised from the seabed in Anapa since the beginning of August. The Anapa mayor's office cited the continued cleanup of the coast as the reason for the increase in the amount of the claim against the owners of the sunken tankers by more than one hundred million rubles.

As "Kavkazsky Uzel" wrote, on July 27, the operational headquarters reported on the collection of 266 bags of fuel oil from the seabed over the past day. Vacationers in Dzhemete have settled near the divers who are collecting fuel oil from the seabed.

821 bags of fuel oil were raised from the seabed in Anapa from July 31 to August 8, the operational headquarters of Kuban reported today. 

Work continues in Dzhemete to clean the seabed of oil products. On August 7, divers collected and pulled ashore 287 bags of oil-contaminated soil in the pier area, the Krasnodar Territory operational headquarters reported.

The Russian Emergencies Ministry reported on the progress of the coastal cleanup. In the coastal zone of the resort town of Anapa and the Temryuk district, a joint diving group collects fuel oil from the bottom of the Black Sea every day. The divers made 15,696 descents, examined 8,509 thousand square meters of the bottom; 16,258 bags of oil-containing waste were collected.

In Krasnodar Krai, a total of more than 178 thousand tons of contaminated sand, soil and pebbles have been collected, according to a message on the department's Telegram channel on August 8.

Anapa City Hall Increases Demands on Tanker Owners

Anapa City Hall has filed a motion in the Arbitration Court of Krasnodar Krai to increase the claims against the ship owners and the merchant charterer of the Volgoneft-212 and Volgoneft-239 tankers that sank near the Kerch Strait to 647.4 million rubles, TASS reported.

"We have a motion to clarify the claims, because the beach cleanup work is ongoing, <…> therefore the amount has been increased to 647 million 430 thousand [rubles]. The same grounds have been accepted, contracts are being concluded," the plaintiff's representative said in court. The judge announced a break in the hearing until August 14.

During the hearing, the plaintiff's side also filed a motion to involve new counterparties in the civil dispute, in connection with which the representative of Volgatransneft - the owner of the Volgoneft-239 ship - petitioned the court to postpone the hearing to prepare a justification for its position on this issue. In addition, the defendants filed a motion to involve in the case as third parties not filing independent claims, VSK Insurance Company, the International Oil Pollution Damage Compensation Fund, Rosnefteflot, the Azov Sea Ports Administration (Caucasus Branch), and acting captain of the Kavkaz seaport Evgeny Skorchenko. The plaintiff objected to the filed motion, the publication says.

Recall that on May 30, Rosprirodnadzor also filed lawsuits against the owners of the Volgoneft-212 and Volgoneft-239 tankers, demanding compensation for environmental damage. According to the agency, the companies that owned the vessels refused to voluntarily comply with the order to compensate for damage due to the oil spill. Kama Shipping LLC, which owns Volgoneft-121, was sued for 49.46 billion rubles, and Volgatransneft CJSC, which operates Volgoneft-239, was sued for 35.48 billion rubles.

On June 10, it became known that the Temryuk District Administration filed a lawsuit in the Kuban Arbitration Court against the owner and charterer of the tankers. The defendants were Volgatransneft CJSC and Kama Shipping LLC.

On December 15, 2024, two tankers with fuel oil sank in the Kerch Strait. As a result, a crew member of one of the tankers died. In addition, there was a spill of oil products, which led to catastrophic environmental consequences, according to the "Caucasian Knot" report "Fuel oil spill in the Kerch Strait".

As a result of the environmental disaster, Rospotrebnadzor recognized 141 beaches in Anapa and nine beaches in the Temryuk district as unsuitable for recreation. Fuel oil was found on all beaches in Anapa, on the coast in the Temryuk district and on the coast of the Sea of Azov in the Slavyansk district of Kuban, according to the "Caucasian Knot" report "The extent of fuel oil pollution in southern Russia".

Materials about the consequences of the fuel oil spill have been collected by the "Caucasian Knot" on the thematic page "Eco-disaster in Kuban".