MOSCOW, November 30 (RAPSI) – The Sakhalin Regional Commercial Court has ruled in favor of the Russian environmental watchdog agency Rosprirodnadzor, which lodged a lawsuit against a ship owner seeking to recover damage to environment resulting from an oil spill near the island of Sakhalin in the amount of 329.1 million rubles (about $5 million), the agency’s records show on Wednesday.

Tanker Nadezhda, owned by DV-Akvatoriya company, was stranded near the Nevelsk seaport on November 8, 2015. The vessel’s hull suffered damage leading to an oil spill.

The Pacific Maritime Administration of the Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resource Usage (Rosprirodnadzor) has carried out an administrative investigation into the incident establishing all relevant facts.

After the spill the local authorities introduced the emergency situation regime. The spill cleanup activities took 30 hours, the time, Rosprirodnadzor experts believe, constituting the period of exposure of a water body to harmful effects of pollution.

The court ruling reads that oil products spilled in the water due to a fault on the part of the defendant had direct toxic effect on water resources; therefore individuals and corporate entities causing harm to environment in contravention of the relevant legislation are responsible for complete indemnification against the damage done.