A Russian tanker has sunk in the Kerch Strait during a violent Black Sea storm, killing one seafarer and causing an oil spill. Russian news agency Ria Novosti, citing official sources, said a second vessel in distress, the Volgoneft 239, was drifting and ran aground about 80 metres from the shore near the port of Taman.

On Sunday, two Russian tankers in the Kerch Strait on the Black Sea caused a disaster. Several thousand tonnes of heavy fuel oil began leaking into the water. Greenpeace is sounding the alarm: "Russia's militarisation of the Black and Azov Seas has led to another ecological disaster,

Russia has opened two criminal investigations into potential safety violations after at least one person died and another tanker was significantly damaged in the weather.