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Lipponen and Kasyanov to Discuss Controversial Tankers
5th February 2003
YLE News in English
Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen is to hold talks
on Thursday with his Russian counterpart
Mikhail Kasyanov concerning oil shipments
through the Gulf of Finland.
Lipponen said he planned to discuss the safety of oil transport, and cooperation with Russia in more general terms.
Meanwhile the Finnish Environment Institute said that equipment to fight oil spills was being moved into position in the Gulf of Finland in case of a possible accident. An oil-spill prevention vessel left Turku on Wednesday to be positioned off Hanko, mainland Finland's southernmost point.
The controversial oil tanker Stemnitsa left the Russian oil port of Primorsk at midday on Wednesday, while its sister vessel remained stalled in pack ice in the Gulf of Finland. By Wednesday evening the Stemnitsa was off Finland's Porkkala peninsula, carrying another load of 110-thousand tonnes of crude oil.
Meanwhile its sister ship Minerva Nounou is awaiting a Russian icebreaker in international waters of the middle of the Gulf of Finland.
The Minerva is also heading to Primorsk to pick up a load of oil. The Greek shipping line that operates the vessels says these will be their last trips to Primorsk this winter.
The Russian Ministry of Transport says there is no reason for concern over the ships' travel through the Baltic, though the dual-hulled ships are not rated for use in heavy ice.
Finnish officials, including President Tarja Halonen, have described the Stemnitsa as a serious environmental hazard, amid the worst ice situation in the Gulf of Finland in at least 15 years.
YLE24, Finnish News Agency
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