Mother of dead teenager reveals students were sent to clean up Black Sea oil spill in southern Russia in exchange for “help with exams”

Cover photo: Oleg Umarov / Komsomolskaya Pravda

The late Alexander Komin, a student at the Anapa Industrial College in southern Russia, was sent to help clean up oil spills on local beaches at the initiative of a faculty member, his mother, Elena Mamaeva, told the independent publication Agentstvo on Feb. 4.

The news comes after Komin was reported to have independently volunteered for the oil spill cleanup. Beaches surrounding the Black Sea — particularly those in Russia’s Krasnodar Krai — have been contaminated after the mid-December crash of two tankers carrying over 8,000 tons of fuel oil in the Kerch Strait. While Russian authorities have reportedly spent millions on funding cleanup efforts, the on-the-ground work, such as digging up oil-soaked sand and cleaning off oil-covered birds was carried out by thousands of local volunteers, many without the proper protective equipment.

Komin passed away from unknown causes overnight on Jan. 15, his college confirmed.

Pro-Kremlin Telegram news channels, citing no sources, previously claimed that Komin had volunteered to participate in cleanup on the day of his death. They also alleged that he suffered from chronic asthma and that forensic experts are examining whether exposure to toxic fumes from the oil spill may have proven fatal.

Komin’s cousin later told local media that he had volunteered to clean up the oil in Anapa, though it was unclear whether he had joined a group or acted independently. The cousin stressed that Komin was in good health and had no known medical conditions, saying, “He was healthy, he didn’t get sick.”

However, according to Mamaeva, the head of the college's law department promised students, including 17-year-olds, help with exams in exchange for their work in the cleanup efforts. As evidence, Mamaeva provided Agentstvo with screenshots of her conversations with her son and an audio message he allegedly received from the department’s head, Sergey Savenko.

Mamaeva’s statement contradicts an earlier claim by the Anapa Industrial College (AIС), which denied having had any involvement in sending minors to clean up the oil spills. In mid-January, the institution stated that Komin had participated independently, as no underage students had been sent by the college.

“The college did not send any minors as volunteers. Their participation in cleaning the beaches is strictly prohibited,” the institution said in a statement.

Mamaeva insists that the cleanup effort was organized by the college itself.

“He went there through the college. I have proof — a recording from the department head, a voice message he sent my son, which my son then forwarded to me. My child went there as part of AIС’s initiative,” she said.

In the audio message provided to Agentstvo, a man who sounds like Savenko (confirmed through a 2014 interview comparison) is heard addressing group supervisors for the “Law” and “Law Enforcement” programs. He instructs them to inform students aged 17 and older about the need to gather 130 volunteers for the cleanup. In return, he promises assistance with exams and internships.

“I will be supervising the group, so everyone who joins me will receive a bonus from the founder and director — I will oversee their exam results, debt clearances, and internships. Please inform students aged 17 and older by 8:30 a.m. tomorrow. I expect both boys and girls to participate,” the man says in the recording.

Mamaeva said her son was interested in the offer because it allowed him to fulfill his summer internship requirements during the academic year. She added that she was strongly opposed to his participation but that he ignored her concerns.

She also provided Agentstvo with screenshots of her last conversations with her son. In one message, he wrote: “Savenko will help with exam retakes, and I need that…” Another screenshot shows Komin wearing a protective mask and gown while working. The video was sent at 10:28 a.m. At 2:26 p.m., he messaged again: “Still here.”

Colonel Sergey Savenko has led AIC’s law department since 2019. Before that, he headed the personnel department of the Russian Emergencies Ministry in the Amur Region, having previously served in the Interior Ministry. His work included preparing special forces units for deployment to conflict zones. A veteran of the Chechen wars, Savenko has received multiple state decorations.

Agentstvo attempted to contact Savenko. He declined to comment, citing a busy schedule, but promised to respond via messenger. Hours later, he failed to follow up and stopped answering calls.

Mamaeva said that after two weeks, she still has not received her son’s autopsy results. She said an investigator informally told her: “Anything is possible; cases like this have happened before, where young people simply collapsed and died.” However, Mamaeva disputes this, insisting her son was in good health.

“My child was healthy, 1.90 meters tall, an athlete since the age of five, and fit for military service,” she said.

She believes officials are trying to cover up her son’s death. Investigators have stopped responding to her, and government-run TV channels refuse to report on the case.

The Russian authorities failed to promptly organize cleanup efforts after the Volgoneft-212 and Volgoneft-239 tankers crashed in the Black Sea, leaving volunteers to handle the environmental disaster for weeks on end. Komin’s case suggests that minors were also recruited to assist with the cleanup.

Recent reports revealed that the fuel oil that the tankers were carrying belonged to Russian state-owned oil giant Rosneft. A separate Important Stories investigation found that Volgoneft-class tankers continued illegally delivering fuel to vessels in Russia’s “shadow fleet” even after the crash.

Since the disaster, 1.4 tons of fuel oil have been recovered from the seafloor, and over 173 tons of oil-contaminated sand and soil have been collected from the shore, according to a Jan. 25 report by emergency response officials in Krasnodar Krai. Governor Veniamin Kondratyev claimed that one-third of the contaminated sand will be disposed of, while the rest will be cleaned and repurposed for construction.

As The Insider previously reported, Russian authorities spent $5 million to dispose of sand contaminated with fuel oil. However, there have been documented cases of officials attempting to bury bags of polluted sand instead of recycling it. On Jan. 4, local residents in a village near Anapa — the site of a “temporary disposal site” for the oil-soaked sand — began to complain about their health to local media, reporting symptoms like severe headaches, coughing, and eye redness.

Viktor Danilov-Danilyan, the head of research at the Institute of Water Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences, described the environmental disaster as “the most serious in Russia since the beginning of the 21st century.”

Ecologists warn that it could take 10-15 years to restore the ecosystems of the coast, and the possible health effects on vacationers in the region cannot yet be predicted. Wildlife is already dying en masse in the polluted area — a mere 15% of birds rescued from the emergency zone have survived. Heavy oil slicks have reached occupied Crimea and the Ukrainian port city of Odesa. And experts warn that the contamination may yet spread to the coasts of Georgia, Turkey, and other Black Sea countries.