On December 15, two Russian tankers, Volgoneft-212 and Volgoneft-239, sank during a storm in the Kerch Strait. The ships carried 9,200 tons of fuel oil of which 40% leaked into the sea.

Today, 15 days later, the Russian authorities described the situation caused by the oil spill as critical and declared a state of emergency in Crimea.

“The situation is really critical. Unfortunately, negative consequences in ecological terms are inevitableKremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to Russian news agencies.

The spokesman called on government agencies to make “maximum efforts” to deal with the situation caused by the spill of thousands of tonnes of fuel oil on the beaches of southwestern Russia.

“It is, unfortunately, it is currently impossible to calculate the dimensions of the damage to the environmentbut experts are systematically working on it,” added Peskov.

The governor of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, for his part, announced on Telegram the declaration of a state of emergency due to the outflow of “oil products in the Kerch Strait”.

On another note, the Russian Ministry of Transport announced this morning that “all pollution zones detected in the sea zone have been cleared” and “no new pollution has been detected”.

But Emergencies Minister Alexander Kurenkov insists the risk of new leaks from the sunken tankers remains.

Thousands of volunteers have been mobilized to tackle fuel oil pollution of southwestern Russia’s tourist beaches, but scientists say their equipment is inadequate.