MOSCOW, January 31. /TASS/. The government on the instruction of Russian President Vladimir Putin started the inspection of the whole tanker fleet in the country to determine the possibility of its operation and avoid the situations like the tankers shipwreck in the Kerch Strait, Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Savelyev told reporters.
"We started implementing decisions of the president, who told us to put into the order the legislative base if required - and we will clearly need to do so, we are now working on that - and perform the inspection of the entire tanker fleet existing now in Russia for the purpose of determining the possibility of its operation and avoiding similar situations in future," Savelyev said.
On December 15, 2024, the Volgoneft-212 and Volgoneft-239 tankers were caught in a storm in the Kerch Strait area in the Black Sea. The Volgoneft-212 subsequently sank while the other ship ran aground. One sailor died, and the rest were evacuated. According to emergency services, the tankers were carrying about 9,200 tons of fuel oil. An oil spill occurred in the Black Sea as a result of the accident, and clean-up operations are underway. According to the Russian Ministry of Transport, about 2,400 tons of oil has leaked into the Black Sea, much less than initially estimated.