On October 15, the Krasnodar regional commercial court ordered approximately 34.22 billion rubles in compensation for environmental damage caused by the Volgoneft tanker disaster in the Black Sea, plus 30.7 million rubles for regional expenses. The award was made jointly against Volgatransneft, Kamatransoil and Kama Shipping. The Insider examined the ruling in detail on November 3.
Of the main environmental award, some 34.12 billion rubles was attributed to damage to the habitat of protected birds, and approximately 93.4 million rubles to harm to the birds themselves, according to the court materials. Environmental lawyer Natalia Lisitsyna cited a total of 13,500 dead birds, including around 10,300 great crested grebes and 1,022 birds from nine Red Book-listed species.
Together with earlier awards of approximately 84.94 billion rubles for damage to the marine environment, the total court-ordered environmental compensation reaches around 119.2 billion rubles, according to the investigation’s calculations. These are judicial awards, not confirmed payments.
The Volgoneft-212 and Volgoneft-239 tankers were wrecked on December 15, 2024. The investigation found that the debtors have limited assets, bankruptcy proceedings had been initiated against two companies and enforcement cases had been discontinued for lack of recoverable property. Its review of documents also identified Rosneft as the owner of the transported fuel oil, although the company was not a defendant in the principal environmental damage claims.