After two tankers sank in the Kerch Strait in December 2024, fuel oil spilled onto the coast near Anapa, triggering an environmental disaster. By the summer of 2025, the main resort beaches had been cleaned and partly covered with new sand, but the effects of the spill remain on remote stretches, especially inside protected natural areas.
In spring 2026, volunteers are still working on the Bugaz Spit and other beaches beyond the stanitsa of Blagoveshchenskaya. According to them, mechanical sifting equipment was used on the official beaches, but much of the 30-kilometer strip between Anapa and Veselovka was cleaned mainly by hand. Volunteers first removed large deposits with shovels, then began sifting sand through homemade frames they call “easels” to separate smaller fuel oil fragments.
“When disaster hits your home, you have to do something,” volunteer Zhanna Rybak told the project Vetër, recalling how she joined the cleanup on December 18, 2024.
Volunteers say the first days after the accident were chaotic, and the emergency was elevated to the federal level only on December 26, 2024. They describe that delay as lost time. Thousands of volunteers from Anapa, Krasnodar region, and other parts of Russia collected fuel oil and helped birds affected by the spill; thousands of birds died from intoxication despite rescue efforts.
Some volunteers later created the NGO “Nets, Sieve and Shovel” to deal more effectively with rescuers and local officials. Zhanna Rybak says cooperation with municipal services has been workable, but in recent months even permission to remove trash and remaining oil residues has become much harder to obtain from the regional natural resources ministry. Volunteers believe this is linked to the authorities’ determination to open the tourist season and avoid the impression that the emergency is still ongoing.
In March 2026, local resident Ilya Sotnikov was charged after driving a quad bike through a protected area. He says he used it to haul heavy bags off the beach. He now faces a 4,000-ruble fine and possible confiscation of the vehicle. Volunteers argue that such obstacles discourage people from other regions who are still willing to come and help.
On April 10, 2026, Krasnodar region governor Veniamin Kondratyev told Vladimir Putin that Anapa’s beaches, including those previously affected by fuel oil discharges, would open this year. Volunteers note that he said nothing about conditions on the Vityazevskaya and Bugaz spits. After that statement, a new major discharge was reported in Vityazevo, and on April 14 the оперативный штаб reported another oil spill near Anapa’s central beach. Volunteers and coordinators say that in some places people can still get stained with fuel oil simply by stepping onto the shore.