Russia's environment minister has blamed Russian-British oil company TNK-BP for causing massive oil pollution in a Siberian region.
Yury Trutnev had just returned from the Khanty-Mansiysk region where he inspected environmental violations at the Samotlor oil field.
He told the government that TNK-BP last year leaked up to 500,000 tons of oil products into Russia's Ob and Yenisey rivers.
He accused TNK-BP of "trying to avoid government control" and gave the company one month to clean up the spills from the polluted 2,200 hectares.
TNK-BP, a joint venture between BP and a consortium of Russian oligarchs, was created in 2003 and is the third-biggest oil producer in Russia.
The company this week said it was investing funds to repair infrastructure "inherited from the Soviet era."
Yury Trutnev had just returned from the Khanty-Mansiysk region where he inspected environmental violations at the Samotlor oil field.
He told the government that TNK-BP last year leaked up to 500,000 tons of oil products into Russia's Ob and Yenisey rivers.
He accused TNK-BP of "trying to avoid government control" and gave the company one month to clean up the spills from the polluted 2,200 hectares.
TNK-BP, a joint venture between BP and a consortium of Russian oligarchs, was created in 2003 and is the third-biggest oil producer in Russia.
The company this week said it was investing funds to repair infrastructure "inherited from the Soviet era."