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The Krasnodar Regional Court has rejected an administrative lawsuit filed by Volgatransneft against the region’s Ministry of Natural Resources. The company had sought to invalidate the methodology that was used to calculate damage to wildlife caused by the wreck of two oil tankers in the Black Sea last year. The disaster in question was previously described by the Russian Academy of Sciences as “the most serious environmental catastrophe in Russia since the beginning of the 21st century.”
The court challenge stemmed from a separate lawsuit filed by the regional Ministry of Natural Resources against Volgatransneft seeking 34.1 billion rubles (approximately $395 million at current exchange rates) in compensation. That sum represents an estimate of the damage the spill caused to animals listed in the “Red Book” of the Krasnodar Region, as well as to other flora and fauna. The company’s representatives argued that regional authorities do not have the right to set their own rules for calculating environmental damage, as that issue falls under the jurisdiction of Russia’s federal Ministry of Natural Resources.
The court rejected the claim of Volgatransneft and upheld the calculation methodology as valid:
“Having heard the explanations of the persons participating in the case, and having examined the arguments of the administrative claim and the responses to it, the court denies the administrative statement of claim.”
Environmental damage
The tankers Volgoneft-212 and Volgoneft-239, which were carrying fuel oil, were wrecked during a storm in the Kerch Strait on Dec. 15, 2024. The accident resulted in oil products spilling into the water and reaching the shoreline, leading to the death of local wildlife, including dolphins and birds. Fuel oil washed up on the coasts of Anapa and the Temryuk District of the Krasnodar Region in mainland Russia, in Sevastopol, Feodosia, and Kerch in Russian-occupied Crimea, and also reached coastlines in Georgia. In total, 150,000 tons of sand contaminated with fuel oil were collected.
The Ukraine War Environmental Consequences Work Group, or UWEC, a group that includes Ukrainian, Russian, and Belarusian environmentalists, reported that the Volgoneft-212 was carrying fuel oil for transfer to the seagoing tanker FIRN, which is part of Russia’s “shadow fleet.”
Other defendants
In addition to the determination against Volgatransneft (the owner of Volgoneft-239), the also ordered Kamatransoil (the owner of Volgoneft-212) and Kama Shipping (which chartered the charterer of Volgoneft-212) to pay damages totalling 49.5 billion rubles ($574.5 million).
Reports later revealed that the Arbitration Court of the Perm Region had placed Kama Shipping co-owner Konstantin Selkov into bankruptcy proceedings.
Status of the affected beaches today
Eight pebble beaches in Anapa have been removed from the “danger zone,”meaning they could reopen by the start of the holiday season provided that water and soil samples continue to meet sanitary standards. As Krasnodar Region governor Veniamin Kondratyev explained:
“As part of carrying out instructions from the government commission on eliminating the consequences of the oil product spill in the Black Sea, a decision was made to remove eight pebble beaches in Anapa — from the village of Bolshoy Utrish to Vysoky Bereg — from the danger zone. Provided that control samples of water and soil continue to meet sanitary standards, we will be able to open these territories for the holiday season.”