The investigation into the causes of the sinking of the oil tankers "Volgoneft-212" and "Volgoneft-239" has been completed on December 15 in the Kerch Strait, said Russian Transport Minister Roman Starovoit.
It was carried out by two Rostransnadzor commissions, with the participation of experts from the Ministry of Transport and Rosmorrechflot.
“Based on the results of the investigation, the Rostransnadzor commission prepared a number of proposals for organizational and legal measures that will help avoid similar accidents, including the introduction of preventive monitoring of compliance by ships with the restrictions established for them in terms of the season and areas of navigation, as well as the timing of inspections“, the statement said.
Rosprirodnadzor estimated the environmental damage from the tanker accidents - the total amount is 84.9 billion rubles / about 1 billion. dollars/, said the head of the department Svetlana Radionova.
Radionova noted that the amount of the claim for damages against Kama Shipping LLC (owner of the tanker Volgoneft-212) amounts to 49.46 billion rubles. In relation to CJSC "Volgotransneft" (owner of the tanker "Volgoneft-239"), the amount of damage caused to the Black Sea amounts to 35.48 billion rubles.
"Companies facing claims have one month to voluntarily compensate for the damages. After this period, the claims will be sent to court," she added.