Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared a state of emergency after a powerplant operated by Norilsk-Taymyr Energy Company, a division of the Norilsk Nickel company, reported that nearly 20,000 tonnes of diesel fuel spilled following the collapse of a storage facility. The fuel leaked into the Ambarnaya River, which feeds into a lake that spring another river eventually leading into the environmentally delicate Arctic Ocean.

State media reports that an area of about 350 square kilometres (135 square miles) has been contaminated, while Alexei Knizhnikov of the World Wildlife Fund's Russian operation says that the direct damage to wildlife and other resources could exceed 1 billion Rubles (The equivalent of about 13 million United States dollars). This spill by volume is believed to be the second or third largest in Russia's modern history, and cleanup efforts may take between 5-10 years, costing over 100 billion Rubles (About 1.3 billion United States dollars).

As of now, the cause of the spill is still under investigation, though powerplant director Vyacheslav Starostin has been taken into custody but not yet charged. The Russian Investigative Committee has launched investigations over the pollution, and Russian Minister for Emergencies Yevgeny Zinichev says that there was a two-day delay between the spill and when the Norilsk alerted authorities of the incident.  

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