Investigators probe reported Russian tundra pollution

A Norilsk Nickel enrichment plant was pumping water contaminated with heavy metals into the Arctic tundra. The Investigative Committee branch for the region has begun probe.

Moscow: Russia's main criminal investigation body has launched a probe after a report that a nickel-processing plant was pumping water contaminated with heavy metals into the Arctic tundra.

The reported pollution detailed on Sunday by the Novaya Gazeta newspaper was in the same region where a massive spill of diesel fuel last month entered Lake Pyasino, which feeds a branch of the Arctic Sea.

The newspaper released a video of what it said was water from a Norilsk Nickel enrichment plant gushing out of a pipe and into a river that also runs into the lake. The Investigative Committee branch for the region said it has sent investigators.