Who Will Pay For Russia’s Unprecedented Oil Spill?

Five days ago, Russia suffered its worst oil spill in modern history after a fuel storage tank owned by Russian nickel and palladium mining company, Nornickel, collapsed and spilled 21,000 tonnes (about 158,000 barrels) of diesel into the nearby Ambarnaya river outside the Siberian city of Norilsk.  The accident--which has drawn comparisons to the Exxon Valdez accident off Alaska in 1989-- is being regarded as the worst of its kind in Russia's Arctic region. One source has reported that as much as 29,000 tonnes (about 218,000…