The Russian authorities are trying to conceal the true extent of the environmental disaster after the fuel oil leak in the Kerch Strait, instead of solving the problem and informing the public.
According to Krym. Realii, an activist from the Krasnodar region of Russia, Yuri Ozarovsky, was detained in the annexed Crimea and held in police custody for almost a day after he showed fuel oil-contaminated stones on the beach in Alushta. After his detention, he was fined 15 thousand rubles.
Ozarovsky is known for regularly reporting on the environmental situation on the Crimean coast after the large-scale oil spill in the Kerch Strait. He also periodically travels to Crimea to cover similar issues.
On April 28, the activist published a video message on his Telegram channel, where he spoke about the conflict in Alushta. According to him, after demonstrating the polluted shore, an administrative report was drawn up against him for allegedly disseminating false socially significant information.
Representatives of the local administration offered him to refute his words to avoid a public outcry. Ozarovsky agreed, although he insisted that the beach was indeed polluted.
The activist said that he had voluntarily come to the police and asked that the case be considered at his place of residence in Krasnodar Krai. However, he has not yet been provided with a lawyer.
"I just wanted to protect people and nature, and did not pursue any personal interests," the newspaper quoted the Russian as saying.
Intent wrote that in Crimea, on the eve of the tourist season, the occupation administration announced the opening of more than 340 beaches after a large-scale environmental disaster in the Black Sea. All these are attempts to create the illusion of "peaceful life".
The accident in the Kerch Strait became known on December 15. The shipwreck occurred near Cape Panagia in the Temryuk district of Krasnodar Territory, in the southwest of the Taman Peninsula, 12 kilometers from the village of Taman. It is the eastern entrance to the Kerch Strait from the Black Sea. According to official data, both tankers could have been carrying about 8,000 tons of oil products.
Later, a concentrated oil slick was spotted in the Sea of Azov, which as of January 11, 2025, was located just 10 kilometers south of the tip of the Berdiansk Spit, had an approximate area of 300 square kilometers and stretched for almost 100 kilometers along the Bilosaray Bay.
Ірина Глухова