MOSCOW, November 11 (RAPSI) – The Pacific Maritime Administration of Russia’s Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resource Usage (Rosprirodnadzor) has billed the Defense Ministry 1.2 billion rubles ($18.5 million) asking it to voluntary compensate environmental damage caused by the Ministry’s two sunken vessels, Rosprirodnadzor website informs on Friday.

In case the Defense Ministry fails to comply with the bill voluntary, Rosprirodnadzor will turn to courts seeking recovery of the money by enforcement.

The environmental watchdog reports that one of the shipwrecks was found when its inspectors checked the territory of a repair center, from where the Defense Ministry should have removed it by a ruling of the Kamchatka Commercial Court. The inspectors estimated the damage made by the sunken vessel to the environment to be at about 900 million rubles (about $14 million).  

Another sunken vessel, a barrack ship, was discovered near the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. According to Rosprirodnadzor, the shipwreck was a source of contamination threatening to pollute water in the area and hindering recovery and rational use of biological resources in the contiguous zone. The agency’s inspectors estimated the damage to be at 221.8 million rubles ($3.3 million).

The local Rosprirodnadzor administration also sought voluntary compensation of environmental damage from two local businesses owning vessels, which had sunk in the area.