[11][12] On 4 June 2020 Russian state television reported that the spill had been contained using a series of specially constructed booms on the Ambarnaya river.

[13] However, drifting ice broke the booms[14] and the spill reached Lake Pyasino, threatening the Pyasina River,[15] which flows into the Arctic Ocean.

[19] He also criticized Vladimir Potanin, chairman and major shareholder of Norilsk Nickel, for not properly maintaining the safety of the fuel tanks at the plant.

[21] In a 3 June 2020 televised meeting devoted to disaster management, Putin asked Sergei Lipin, the head of NTEK: "Why did government agencies only find out about this two days after the fact?

"[22][23] After the state environmental agency Rosprirodnadzor told its employee Vasily Ryabinin to stop investigating the disaster, he quit his job on 7 June and went public as a whistleblower.