Russia Responsible for 19 of 24 Cases of Pollution of the Caspian in June, ‘Transparent World’ Monitoring Project Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Aug. 1 – Russian coastal facilities were responsible for 19 of the 24 cases of pollution of the Caspian Sea in June by facilities in that littoral state, Azerbaijan for four,and Kazakhstan for one, according to a study based on satellite imagery the Transparent World in the Caspian Sea organization has carried out.

            Some of this pollution was the result of the draining of sewage into the sea, the group said; but most involved oil, including spills from ships and leakage from oil storage facilities and harbors (t.me/twworldkasp/5436 and svoboda.org/a/za-mesyats-v-kaspiyskom-more-zafiksirovali-24-sluchaya-zagryazneniya-boljshaya-chastj-u-beregov-dagestana/33819812.html).

            This study will exacerbate relations among the five littoral states, relations that are already fraught because of conflicts about the impact of reductions in the flow of rivers that help keep the Caspian from falling any more rapidly than it has been in recent years as a result of global warming.