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.

A spokesperson for the Russian embassy in Dublin has explained that due to a faulty pipe used during the refuelling of the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier on Saturday, February 14, hundreds of tonnes of oil seeped into the sea off the south coast.

The admission, made during a high-level meeting between Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern, coast guard officials and Russian navy representatives on Monday, followed a similar conclusion drawn by the Irish and British authorities earlier in the same day after the results of laboratory tests in Scotland confirmed the spillage.

However, despite the admission, the Irish coast guard has raised concerns over how they were not notified in the immediate aftermath of the incident, with the time delay expected to be discussed during further inter-government discussions over the spillage in the coming weeks.