Russia's environment minister on Thursday blamed Russian-British oil company TNK-BP for causing massive oil pollution in a resource-rich Siberian region and failing to invest in its infrastructure. "We looked at TNK-BP's activities, because... they operate the biggest share of polluted lands (2,200 hectares/5,435 acres)," Yury Trutnev, Russia's natural resources and environment minister, told Prime Minister Vladimir Putin at a government meeting.
Trutnev had just returned from the Khanty-Mansiysk region where he inspected environmental violations at the Samotlor oil field. On Wednesday he said that he found TNK-BP's environmental policies "poor". "Pipes should not leak, there should not be oil on the ground," he said after touring the area in a helicopter.
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