The court confirmed the guilt of the port captain of Caucasus in the tanker crash involving fuel oil.

The acting captain of the seaport of Caucasus, Evgeny Skorchenko, disputed the conclusions of the Federal Transport Oversight Agency regarding his involvement in the tanker crashes near the Kerch Strait in 2024, but the court supported the agency's position.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot", the administration of Anapa demanded that the companies "Volgotransneft", "Kama Shipping", and "Kamatransoil" and insurers compensate 601 million for cleaning the shore from fuel oil and disposing of contaminated soil, while the authorities of the Temryuk district demanded 28 million. The "Marine Rescue Service" demanded compensation of 485 million, which was spent on cleaning the waters of the Black Sea.

13:35 09.07.2026

Fuel oil spill in the Black Sea

On December 15, 2024, two Russian tankers carrying fuel oil sank in the Kerch Strait due to a storm. A massive oil spill occurred, leading to catastrophic environmental consequences. In May 2026, the authorities of Anapa announced the opening of the swimming season.

Evgeny Skorchenko filed an administrative lawsuit in the Temryuk District Court of Krasnodar Krai in January 2026. Skorchenko claimed that there had allegedly been a violation of the investigation procedure and insisted on the illegality of the conclusions of the Federal Transport Oversight Agency, TASS reported today.

"The commission established and the investigation materials confirm that the cause of the accident included violations by the captain of the vessel and the shipowner of the seasonal and navigation conditions, failure to direct the vessel to a safe navigation area, and operating the vessel with an incomplete crew," the text of the first-instance court's decision stated.

It is also clarified in the materials of the conclusion that "Volgoneft-239" was included in the daily schedule for the positioning and movement of vessels in the seaport of Caucasus, which was signed by the inspector of the state port control of the port of Caucasus, despite non-compliance with safety requirements for navigation. At the same time, the approval mark of the schedule by the port captain did not have Skorchenko's signature.

Skorchenko requested in the appeal to recognize as unfounded the inclusion in the sections of the conclusion of information about the illegality of his actions or inactions and to oblige the administrative defendant to exclude this information from the text of the document.

"Having examined the case materials and the arguments of the appeal, the judicial panel of the Krasnodar Krai Court agreed with the conclusions of the district court. The decision of the first-instance court was left unchanged, and the appeal was denied. The appellate ruling entered into legal force," the press service of the Krasnodar Krai courts reported on their Telegram channel.

Recall that in August 2025, the Arbitration Court of Krasnodar Krai satisfied the claim of Rosprirodnadzor against the owner and charterer of one of the tankers that sank in the Kerch Strait, "Volgoneft-212", ordering LLC "Kamatransoil" and LLC "Kama Shipping" to pay more than 49 billion 460 million rubles for damage to the Black Sea. All bank accounts of these companies were frozen. The owner of the sunken tanker "Volgoneft-212" in the Kerch Strait could not contest the decision to recover over 49 billion rubles for the damage caused to the Black Sea. The owner of the tanker "Volgoneft-239" filed a complaint in the Arbitration Court of the North Caucasus District against the court's decision to recover 35.48 billion rubles in damages to the Black Sea from the company. The Arbitration Court of the North Caucasus District upheld the court's decisions to recover more than 84.9 billion rubles from the owners of the tankers that sank near Anapa for damage to the sea area.

Fuel oil was found on all beaches of Anapa, along the coast in the Temryuk district (from the village of Veselovka to the stanitsa of Blagoveshchenskaya) and on the coast of the Azov Sea in the Slavyansky district of Kuban, according to the report of the "Caucasian Knot" "The scale of fuel oil pollution in southern Russia".