Notes At The Front

Black Sea Catastrophe

This winter, two Russian oil tankers broke up during stormy weather in the Strait of Kerch, polluting large swaths of the Black Sea and its coastline with thousands of tons of toxic fuel oil. It’s a story we’ve heard before – the tankers were over 50 years old and still in use despite having been built to last just 25 years. Furthermore, they were originally intended for use mostly for inland bodies of water, so not built to withstand winter sea storms. In 2007, ships of the same Volgoneft design split in half in roughly the same area, spilling about 4,000 tons of fuel oil. 

Head of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Water Problems Institute, Viktor Danilov-Danilyan, called this most recent spill “the worst environmental catastrophe in Russia since early in the twenty-first century.” 

As is unfortunately common in such situations, Russian authorities did not react to the spill for over a week, forcing volunteers to take the initiative by gathering the clumping fuel oil from the shore and attempting to rescue petroleum-coated seabirds. (Most affected seabirds died from ingesting toxins, even if their feathers are cleaned). Eventually, local authorities started sending organized groups of volunteers to join in the cleanup efforts, another misguided step that led many people to get sick and led one minor, 17-year-old Alexander Komin, to die on the beach after his college promised to waive his examinations if he participated. His mother told independent media outlets that her family’s story is banned by state TV stations, while investigators have refused to release his cause of death for several weeks.

Why are these unsafe tankers, which are unlicensed for sea travel, repeatedly used despite causing so much damage to human health and the environment? 

Some observers have pointed to Russia’s War on Ukraine. The sanctions on Russia have led to the creation of a so-called “shadow fleet” comprising ancient and often uninsurable vessels used to carry oil products to foreign destinations while concealing their ownership or ports of call. Whenever the ramshackle vessels taking part in this global operation get into an accident that causes an environmental disaster, the company owning them can simply declare bankruptcy. 

The Ukraine War Environmental Consequences Work Group (UWEC) has concluded that the accidents this winter were caused by Volgoneft ships attempting to deliver Russian oil products to an export tanker that was traveling onwards to India. 

Internal Tourism Rises

In 2024, internal tourism in Russia hit a historic high: 92 million trips, up from 78 million in 2023. Three quarters of trips involving stays at hotels or resorts took place in the summer, from May to September. Nearly half of the trips were organized packaged tours. 

Some destinations on the Black Sea and the Golden Ring of historic towns around Moscow doubled in popularity, leading to a shortage of hotel accommodations. 

The top five most popular internal tourist destinations are:
1.  Moscow
2.  St. Petersburg
3.  Sochi
4.  Kazan
5.  Yekaterinburg

Working Abroad

At present, approximately 26 million Russians are living and working outside of Russia. Since the start of Russia’s War on Ukraine three years ago, an estimated 550,000 to 880,000 have left, but those figures cover only those moving to countries that share migration and travel statistics. They do not factor in, most notably, countries like the United Arab Emirates, India, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia. 

A new study has looked into Russia’s female emigrants, including those termed “relocators,” a term used to designate persons who left the country after 2022 but who also maintain strong ties with Russia, sometimes continuing to work remotely for Russia-based employers. Among Russian women living abroad, the survey showed that 44 percent have work based in their new country (albeit involving jobs dealing with other Russian speakers), while 21 percent have maintained at least partial ties to the Russian labor market.

Death in Custody

50 persons have died in Russia while being detained by police or imprisoned, according to Verstka, which analyzed media reports over the last few years. 

Twenty persons died in pre-trial detention, 10 died in police stations, and five died while receiving medical care while in police custody. One person died after he was thrown out of a police car into sub-zero temperatures without winter clothing. 

Forty-seven of those who died were men and three were women. The age of the deceased ranged from 24 to 69. 

Mortgaged Future

Russians buying real estate today are paying extremely high interest rates, meaning that, by the time their mortgage is paid off, they could end up paying 450 percent of the principal loan amount. This repayment percentage is nearly five times that of a decade ago. 

It all traces back to the current record-high benchmark interest rate, currently 21 percent. Also, subsidy programs that were used in the past as a way to ease the cost of borrowing have become less available. Since 2024, there have been only very niche programs to help select homebuyers, for example if they are a young family in the Far Eastern or Arctic regions, or if they work in specific companies of the IT sector.

LAST WORDS

Ilya Zabavsky is a Ukrainian citizen from Kharkiv who was detained in 2022 in a part of Ukraine occupied by Russian forces. He had been working in a café in Kharkiv but went looking for his mother after her remote village was shelled and he lost communication with her. Unbeknownst to him, his mother had already been evacuated. He was arrested and put into an unofficial detention center for Ukrainians, where he was held for many months. 

This winter, a Russian court sentenced Zabavsky, 29, to 11 years in a high-security penal colony for espionage. Below is an excerpt of Ilya’s final courtroom statement, the latest in our series of such statements, called “Last Words.” The Last Word provision in Russia’s legislation provides one of the few public spaces in Russia where people can speak freely, just before being sentenced.

Translated from: dept.one/story/zabavskiy

For Better or Worse

Russians believe that most spheres of life have gotten worse over the course of 2024, with a few surprising exceptions.

In a January 2025 poll by Levada Center, people from across Russia were asked their opinion on the state of affairs in the country and the world and how it changed over the last year.

Where did you see improvements or the opposite in 2024?
(As a percentage of respondents surveyed, January 2025)

Source: www.levada.ru