facing one of the biggest ecologigical desasters in the black sea region, one would think russia and ucraine will work together to combat the oil spill. no, on the contrary: political tensions are on the rise and old land disputes are taken up again in. there are elections in russia:

(...) The largest sea disaster in the modern history of Russia and Ukraine is turning into a political scandal. Deputy head of the Russian Federal Natural Resources Supervision Service (Rosprirodnadzor) Oleg Mitvol has proposed building a temporary dam from Tuzla Spit, which is Ukrainian territory and has been an island since the 1920s, to the Russian shore. Mitvol says that is the only way to prevent the pollution of the Sea of Azov with fuel oil from the recent oil spill the Strait of Kerch. The idea has caused a storm of emotion in Ukraine. Ukrainian politicians see the proposal as a renewal of an old land dispute and Russian electioneering.(...)