32 dolphins have died since oil spill near southern Russia, experts say: NPR

Thirty-two dolphins have died since two storm-hit tankers spilled fuel oil three weeks ago in the Kerch Strait, which separates the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula from the southern Russian region of Krasnodar, it was announced on Sunday. an animal protection association.

The Russian Dolphin Rescue and Research Center in Delfa said the deaths were “most likely linked to the oil spill.”

The center said on messaging app Telegram that a total of 61 dead cetaceans – an order of aquatic mammals that includes whales and dolphins – had been recorded since the emergency, but the condition of the bodies suggested that the Another 29 had died before the spill. .

“Judging by the state of the bodies, it is very likely that the majority of these cetaceans died within 10 days of the disaster. And now the sea continues to carry them away,” the center wrote, emphasizing that most of the dead dolphins were from the endangered Azov species.

Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry said on Sunday that more than 96,000 tons of contaminated sand and soil had been removed by officials and volunteers along the coastline of Anapa and Temryuk districts of the Krasnodar region. .

Russian-appointed officials in Moscow-occupied Crimea announced a regional emergency on Saturday after oil was detected off the coast of Sevastopol, the peninsula’s largest city, located about 250 kilometers from the Kerch Strait.

On December 23, the ministry estimated that up to 200,000 tonnes in total may have been contaminated by mazut, a poor-quality heavy petroleum product.

Russian President Vladimir Putin called the oil spill an “ecological disaster.”

The Kerch Strait is an important global shipping route, providing passage from the Inland Sea of ​​Azov to the Black Sea.

It was also a key point in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine after Moscow’s annexation of the peninsula in 2014. In 2016, Ukraine took Moscow to the Permanent Court of Arbitration, where it accused the Russia to attempt to illegally take control of the region. In 2021, Russia closed the strait for several months.

Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, called last month’s oil spill a “large-scale environmental disaster” and called for additional sanctions against Russian oil tankers.