A mining firm has paid a record $2bn (£1.4bn) fine over a huge oil spill that caused one of Russia’s worst environmental disasters. Norilsk Nickel, the world’s leading nickel and palladium producer, said it had paid the fine on Wednesday. The fuel spill last May saw 21,000 tonnes of diesel pour from one of the company’s storage tanks into rivers and lakes in Russia’s Arctic north.

It prompted President Vladimir Putin to declare a state of emergency. “I ask you to ensure that this [money] is used primarily to improve the environmental situation in [the city of] Norilsk itself and the surrounding region,” President Putin told a government meeting. The penalty is the biggest ever issued for environmental damage in Russia, officials say. Norilsk Nickel, also known as Nornickel, was told to pay the fine by a Russian court in February and chose not to appeal.(BBC)…[+]