Moscow, Jun 28 (AP) 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 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.

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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.

Norilsk Nickel, one of Russia's biggest companies, also owns the power plant from which some 21,000 tons of diesel fuel leaked in May when a storage reservoir collapsed, possibly due to melting permafrost. Both facilities are north of the Arctic Circle, 2,900 kilometers (1,800 miles) northeast of Moscow, the Russian capital. (AP)

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(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)