"RFE/RL Investigation: How Russian Oil Companies Illegally Dump Massive Amounts Of Toxic Waste", 25 May 2021

Russian oil companies are illegally disposing of millions of tons of contaminated drilling waste, a practice that is wreaking environmental havoc by polluting northern rivers that drain into the Arctic Ocean, a new RFE/RL investigation has found.

...Regulations overseeing the disposal of drilling waste are routinely flouted, with bribes being paid to inspectors, data being omitted from required paperwork, and major oil companies pressuring regulators to effectively look the other way.

Illegal waste dumps on state oil giant Rosneft's fields in the Khanty-Mansi region alone could do more than $8 billion in environmental damage, according to one of three reports commissioned by the Russian Health Ministry and obtained by Radio Svoboda.

...That would translate into almost 16 million tons of waste...But according to Russia's environmental regulator, Rosprirodnadzor, only 5 million tons of this waste was generated in 2019 -- a discrepancy that suggests more than 10 million tons may have been disposed of illegally.

[refers to Rosneft, LUKoil, and Surgutneftegaz]