Putin criticises oil spill cleanup, weeks after it began

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday criticised the clean up of a major oil spill in the Black Sea and created a new task force to take over the operation, almost four weeks after the spill began.

Dozens of marine mammals have been found dead since the disaster, which began on December 15 when two ageing Russian oil tankers were caught in a storm off the coast of Crimea.

He said officials needed to do "everything" possible to stop the leak.

The type of fuel oil involved in the incident is particularly hard to clean because it is dense and does not float on the surface, Russian authorities said.

Hundreds of volunteers have been deployed to scoop up contaminated soil from beaches in Crimea and along Russia's southern coast.