Europe News
Russian oil export pipeline breached
Jul 31, 2006, 13:11 GMT
Moscow - Russian authorities issued a pollution disaster warning Monday, but later retracted it after a key pipeline carrying oil to Europe was confirmed to have been breached.
Crude spilled over ten square kilometres of the Bryansk region by the border with Ukraine and contaminated waterways, the Ministry for Natural Resources in Moscow said.
In subsequent statements it denied that the leak constituted a catastrophe, the Interfax news agency reported.
The operator of the Druzhba (friendship) pipeline said separately that the spill covered only 350 square metres and posed no danger to the population.
Built by Soviet engineers in the 1970s, the line carried oil to Warsaw Pact countries and is now regarded as needing a major overhaul.
© 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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