Tuzla Spit Island, October 24, 2003. preparation were made for a political cataclysm, not an ecological one.
Photo: AP, AP
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Storm Warning over Shipwrecks
The largest sea disaster in the modern history of Russia and Ukraine is turning into a political scandal. Deputy head of the Russian Federal Natural Resources Supervision Service (Rosprirodnadzor) Oleg Mitvol has proposed building a temporary dam from Tuzla Spit, which is Ukrainian territory and has been an island since the 1920s, to the Russian shore. Mitvol says that is the only way to prevent the pollution of the Sea of Azov with fuel oil from the recent oil spill the Strait of Kerch. The idea has caused a storm of emotion in Ukraine. Ukrainian politicians see the proposal as a renewal of an old land dispute and Russian electioneering.
Mitvol made his suggestion at a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov and Krasnodar Territory Governor Alexander Tkachev. Tkachev pointed out that such a dam was technically quite feasible. He had proposed the same thing in 2003 to prevent erosion of the Taman Peninsula shoreline. The proposal was interpreted in Ukraine as a land grab and Leonid Kuchma, then president of Ukraine, convinced Russian President Vladimir Putin to quash the project.
Shortly after Mitvol's proposal was reported on Ukrainian television, Ukrainian Minister of Emergency Situations Nestor Shufrich held a press conference to say that he had spoken to Russian Emergencies Minister Sergey Shoigu, who assured him that the Russian were not considering building the dam. Instead, he said, floating booms will be used to contain the oil slick.
The Russian Emergencies Ministry confirmed that the dam was not being considered. A spokesman for Tkachev commented laconically that “The sea is within the sphere of responsibility of the federal center.” Parliamentary candidate from the Yulia Timoshenko Bloc Andrey Shkil told Kommersant that “I don't think the construction of a dam has any relation to the ecological situation.” His sentiments were echoed by a chorus of Ukrainian politicians of all political stripes.
Igor Chestin, head of the Russian division of the World Wildlife Federation, agreed with Mitvol's conclusion that a dam is the only way to prevent the pollution of the Sea of Azov while cleanup is underway, three to five years.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Nov. 15, 2007
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