The oil spill near the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula may have contaminated 200,000 tons of soil, the Russian Minister of Natural Resources Aleksandr Kozlov said on Monday.
Two old Russian tankers had an accident a week ago in Kertshinsalmi in stormy weather. One of the ships broke in two and sank, the other ran aground. The cargo of the tankers was a total of more than 9,000 tons of fuel oil, of which about 40 percent may have spilled into the sea, according to the Russian authorities.
According to the photos published by the local authorities on Monday, volunteers have been cleaning the beach areas.
The Kerch Strait separates southern Russia and the Crimean peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014.