Russia lists oil spills

MOSCOW - Russia listed its Arctic oil accidents, ranging from pipelines ruptured by rust to pumping stations ravaged by fire, but rejected western reports of a spill eight times worse that caused by the Exxon Valdez in Alaska in 1989, writes Andrew Higgins.

Moscow said the spill near Usinsk was a 'very dangerous ecological accident'. It said about 100,000 barrels of oil - not, as the US said, up to 2 million - leaked on to the permafrost.