Russia owes up to oil spill responsibility

AFTER more than a week of apparent mystery over how a 520-tonne oil spill occurred off the south coast, the Russian navy has officially confirmed it was responsible for the potential environmental crisis, leaving open the possibility of compensation to Ireland.

In the initial aftermath of the spillage almost two weeks ago, Russian authorities rejected claims they were responsible for the oil spill 80km off the Fastnet Rock in west Cork.

However, independent analysis of the oil by the Irish and British coast guards and by the Russian navy itself has led to an official backtrack on the matter, with Moscow accepting full responsibility for the incident and accepting compensation towards the estimated e250,000 clean-up operation may be sought.