Nornickel ordered to pay $2 bln in Arctic fuel spill damages -Interfax

A Russian court ruled on Friday that a power business owned by mining giant Norilsk Nickel should pay 147 billion roubles ($1.96 billion) for environmental damages caused by a huge fuel spill in the Arctic last May, Interfax reported. The spill released 21,000 tonnes of diesel into rivers and subsoil near the city of Norilsk in Siberia.

A Russian court ruled on Friday that a power business owned by mining giant Norilsk Nickel should pay 147 billion roubles ($1.96 billion) for environmental damages caused by a huge fuel spill in the Arctic last May, Interfax reported.

The spill released 21,000 tonnes of diesel into rivers and subsoil near the city of Norilsk in Siberia. Greenpeace has compared the incident to the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill off Alaska and Russian President Vladimir Putin voiced fury over the leak. ($1 = 74.9660 roubles)