The Russian resort town of Anapa and the adjacent areas of the Temryuk district of the Krasnodar region will not be able to open the 2025 swimming season due to large-scale pollution of the coast with fuel oil caused by the wreck of tankers with oil products. This was stated by the head of Rospotrebnadzor Anna Popova at a briefing in the government on April 18, 2025. According to her, 141 beaches in Anapa and nine beaches in the Temryuk district do not meet sanitary and hygienic standards due to ongoing emissions of fuel oil, covering 325 kilometers of coastline - from Cape Panagia to Arkhipo-Osipovka in the Gelendzhik region. The decision was made on the basis of 60 thousand laboratory studies that confirmed the high level of pollution, making the beaches unsuitable for recreation and health purposes.

Popova stressed that residual fuel oil continues to flow ashore, posing a threat to the health of vacationers and the Black Sea ecosystem. The sandy beaches of Anapa, considered the largest on the Russian Black Sea coast, received 2024 million tourists in 5,5, which is 10% more than the year before. However, the environmental disaster threatens the region's tourism industry, which is a key source of income for local residents and the budget of the Krasnodar Territory.

The December 2024 tanker wreck in the Kerch Strait, reported by RIA Novosti, resulted in the spill of thousands of tons of oil products, much of which was washed up by storms on the coast of Anapa and the Temryuk district. According to The Moscow Times, in February 2025, the carcinogenic substance benzopyrene was found on the beaches of Anapa in concentrations exceeding the norm by 2150%, which increased concerns about human health.

The ecological consequences of the disaster were catastrophic for the local fauna. As reported by the portal "Kuban 24", volunteers and ornithologists recorded the death of hundreds of seabirds stuck in the fuel oil, as well as cases of dolphin poisoning. According to veterinarians, the affected animals rarely survive more than two or three days due to the toxicity of the oil products.