MOSCOW: Russia, on Friday, put the cost of a massive Black Sea oil spill in December from two tankers at almost US$1 billion, which it is attempting to claim back from the ships’ owners.
The head of Russia’s environmental watchdog, Rosprirodnadzor, Svetlana Radionova, told a government meeting on the clean-up that the “total sum presented to the polluting companies is 84.9 billion rubles ($998 million)”.
The ships’ owners have a month to pay up voluntarily or face court action, she said, according to a statement released by the government.