Despite the national efforts to eliminate the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the situation still hasn’t been stabilized. According to Russian non-governmental organisations (NGOs), Russia must learn from this catastrophe and stop the development of the new projects on the sea shelves until a real and a full-scale environmental safety hasn’t been guaranteed. In the first place, this should be done in the Arctic seas, where the weather conditions are even tougher than in the Gulf of Mexico.

For Russia this problem is quite urgent while the most prospective region for the realization of the new shelf projects and development of the shipping is the Arctic. Efficient elimination of the consequences of the oil spills in the ice conditions of the Arctic seas, according to WWF research, today is impossible due to the absence of the necessary technologies and legislation base to compensate the damage.

In the declaration Russia NGOs pay attention to the preventive measures, including an urgent revision and optimization of the current legislation on the prevention of the oil spills and the response to them. Before these initiatives are realised the coalition of Russian NGOs appeal to announce a moratorium on the development of the new off shore projects in oil extraction in the Arctic seas, Sea of Okhotsk, Bering, Kaspiy and other seas.

“One of the most serious environmental problems in Russia is the problem of the oil spills. In our country annually around 20 thousand of oil spills happen, - says Ivan Blokov, Programme Director of Greenpeace Russia. – However, in case of the accident the consequences could be much more harmful”.

“The type of the catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico, significant but unsuccessful efforts to stop the consequences of the oil spill, desperate but unfortunately inefficient struggle – all this shows that the humanity is not technologically ready for a safe oil and gas extraction on the sea shelf, - thinks Alexey Zimenko, General Director of the Biodiversity Conservation Center. – Therefore all countries should stop the field production at great depths, in the water areas of the freezing seas, in the regions with difficult hydrometeorological situation before the truly safe technologies are created”.

“Apart from the oil pollution, there are many other dangers, which shelf projects have for marine flora and fauna. For instance, seismic works have negative impact on the fish, including, spawning migration of the salmon, as well as on some species of the marine mammals, such as whales, - says Alexey Knijnikov, Head of WWF Russia programme on the oil and gas environmental policy. – This summer Russian oil company, Rosneft, plans to hold seismic works in the shallow waters near the North-East of the Sakhalin – exactly at the time when females and calves of the unique grey whales population will feed. We are doing our best to prevent these works during the summer time”.