A regional state of emergency was introduced in the occupied Crimea. The reason was a fuel oil spill in the Black Sea, according to the Russian media. The corresponding decree was issued by the Governor of Crimea Sergey Aksyonov.

The Russian government made the declaration after a number of its tankers were sank in the body of water between itself, Ukraine, Turkey and Romania.

One tanker sank and another ran aground on December 15 in the Kerch Strait between Russia and the annexed Crimean peninsula.

Authorities in Russia's southern Krasnodar region on Wednesday declared a region-wide emergency, saying that oil was still washing up on the coastline 10 days after two ageing tankers ran into trouble.

Russian ruler Vladimir Putin has introduced a federal state of emergency due to the fuel oil spill following the 15 December tanker accident in the Kerch Strait. Source: Latvia-based Russian media outlet Meduza;

Russia Wednesday expanded an operation to clean up thousands of tonnes of oil that spilt into the sea and contaminated 50 kilometers of beaches after tanker ships were wrecked in a storm.

Volunteers helping to clean up a major oil spill along Russia's Black Sea coast appealed in a video released on Monday for President Vladimir Putin to urgently send federal aid, saying that they and local authorities were overwhelmed.

Some 3,700 tons of low-grade fuel oil have spilled into the Black Sea since two Russian oil tankers were severely damaged in a storm on Dec. 15.

In the wake of a significant oil spill along Russia's Black Sea coast, volunteers have released a video appealing directly to President Vladimir Putin for urgent federal assistance. The environmental disaster,

Crimean activists warn that the situation on the occupied peninsula could be even worse than on the Russian side of the Black Sea coast. According to one of them, the consequences of the oil spill on the Crimean beaches are more dangerous than in the Russian city of Anapa.