After the accident in Norilsk Vladimir Potanin became $ 1.5 billion poorer in a day

As a result of the spill of oil products on May 29 at TPP-3 of the Norilsk-Taimyr energy company, which is part of the Norilsk Nickel company, up to 20 thousand cubic meters of diesel fuel fell into the rivers flowing near Norilsk. The area of pollution amounted to 180 thousand square meters. Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday expressed indignation that the country's leadership had to learn about this from social networks. Norilsk Nickel insists that information about the accident in the Ministry of Emergencies was transmitted in a timely manner.

According to the Investigative Committee, a criminal case has been opened under the article “Negligence”. It is connected precisely with “untimely informing” of a large-scale fuel spill. Three other criminal cases have also been instituted under the articles “Land Corruption”, “Violation of the Environmental Protection Rules during Work” and “Water Pollution”. Vyacheslav Starostin, the head of the Norilsk TPP-3 workshop, who was detained the day before in the oil leak case, was arrested until July 31.

The international environmental organization Greenpeace estimated the environmental damage caused to water bodies as a result of oil spills at six billion rubles, and this is without taking into account soil damage and air pollution.

The reason for the loss of Vladimir Potanin was the fall of Norilsk Nickel due to this accident. Today, the company's shares have lost more than 8% and are sold at a price of 20,032 rubles per share. As forbes.ru notes, in one day, June 4, the state of the head and main owner of the company decreased by 1.5 billion dollars. Now it amounts to 25.2 billion dollars, which, however, so far allows him to be considered the richest businessman in Russia.

Today was unsuccessful for some other rich people. Chinese businessman Qin Yinlin lost $ 7.5 billion, well-known Mark Zuckerberg - $ 926 million.

Russian President Vladimir Putin last day supported the decision to introduce in Norilsk, a federal emergency mode. The Norilsk-Taimyr Energy Company is involved in the process of liquidating the accident. The current accident related to the activities of the structures of Norilsk Nickel is not the first. In 2016 and 2018, local rivers near Norilsk turned red due to the discharge of pollutants, but then the company escaped with a nominal fine of less than $ 1,000, and also spent several million dollars to eliminate the effects of pollution.

One of the State Duma deputies, Alexander Yakubovsky, asked the head of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, to take measures "to temporarily suspend those responsible for actions or inaction" at the facility, including Vladimir Potanin himself, to conduct an objective investigation of the accident, RBC reports.