Volunteers reported on the progress of the oil spill cleanup near the shore in Anapa.
4.8 tons of contaminated soil were collected in 24 hours on the Vityazevskaya Spit, where EMERCOM personnel and volunteers are cleaning the coast, the volunteer headquarters reported.
As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," oil spills were recorded on Anapa beaches from April 11th to 16th. The spill sites have been localized, 247 tons of contaminated soil have been collected, and 229 tons have been removed, according to the Kuban task force.
On April 10th, an oil spill moving toward Anapa was discovered 11 kilometers from the shore. It was treated with a sorbent, and approximately 28 tons of the oil-containing mixture were collected from the water surface. The source of the oil spill was presumably a civilian vessel attacked by Ukrainian drones outside Russian territorial waters, according to Kuban authorities.
As of April 17, 97 bags of contaminated soil, or 4,850 kilograms, were collected from the Vityazevskaya Spit, the "Net, Sieve, Shovel" volunteer headquarters reported on its "Volunteers of the SSL" Telegram channel.
"In total, 827 bags, or 41,350 kilograms, were collected from the spill on the Vityazevskaya Spit," the publication stated.
The headquarters also reported on work at the "Anapa Peresyp" protected area on the Vityazevskaya Spit, emphasizing that this area is not part of the city's beaches.
"In addition to divers, equipment is also working, Digging up storm-washed sediment from the surf. The bulk of the material is loaded and removed immediately, but a pile remains for manual sorting. "Fuel oil scraps," which also need to be dealt with. The Ministry of Emergency Situations dealt with them, and we helped," the report states.
The publication is illustrated with a video in which a woman shows volunteers on the coast, a tractor, and dozens of bags of collected soil.
"Final work is underway on the Vityazevskaya Spit following the latest blowout. This tractor is extracting sediment from the bottom, divers are working there by hand, and we are collecting the "fuel oil scraps" after the tractor's work," the woman says in the video.
As a reminder, Anapa has seen an increase in hotel bookings amid government announcements about the imminent reopening of its beaches. However, tourism industry representatives, as well as local residents, have expressed caution regarding the start of the holiday season. Bookings in Anapa are brisk at hotels where beach vacations are not the main focus, tour operators reported.
Work to replenish beaches with new sand should be completed by the start of the beach season, Russia's Deputy Prime Minister stated. He added that if the work goes according to plan, the beaches will be open by June 1. Environmentalists, however, believe it's too early to talk about the beaches' suitability for tourists, as the sunken parts of the fuel oil tankers have not yet been raised, and residual pollution remains on the sand. Following the fuel oil spill in the Kerch Strait, Rospotrebnadzor (the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing) declared 141 beaches in Anapa and nine beaches in the Temryuk District unsuitable for recreation. In 2025, following the fuel oil spill, Anapa saw 60% fewer tourists than in 2024, while demand for other resorts in the Krasnodar Territory and Dagestan increased. Some tourists went to Anapa only because hotels were forced to offer significant discounts. Due to a record drop in revenue, Anapa's sanatoriums and children's camps are teetering on the brink of closure. On December 15, 2024, two tankers carrying fuel oil sank in the Kerch Strait. A crew member from one of the tankers died. Additionally, an oil spill occurred, leading to catastrophic environmental consequences, according to the Caucasian Knot report "Fuel Oil Spill in the Kerch Strait." Caucasian Knot has compiled materials on the "Fuel Oil Spill in the Kerch Strait" page.