Russia - Putin Opens 12-Mile Bridge Between Annexed Crimea And Russian Mainland (Video)

Crimea is an area full of legendary tales for Russian historians. Wars were fought here, both against Napoleon in the 1850s and against Ukraine in 2014 when Russia unilaterally took over the territory and started backing the Russian rebels in the east of Ukraine, leading to the infamous worldwide sanctions against Mr Putin’s country.

However, since yesterday, it became even harder for Ukraine to ever get their territory back as President Putin himself inaugurated a 12 mile long bridge between Crimea and the Russian mainland by driving over it in an orange Kamaz truck.

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President Putin claimed: “In different historical epochs, even under the tsar priests, people dreamed of building this bridge.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Today President Putin opened the bridge to Crimea: a feat of engineering with strong symbolic meaning <a href="https://t.co/JNs8Wqk9kW">pic.twitter.com/JNs8Wqk9kW</a></p>&mdash; Alexander Yakovenko (@Amb_Yakovenko) <a href="https://twitter.com/Amb_Yakovenko/status/996403901199994881?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 15, 2018</a></blockquote>

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“Then they returned to this [idea] in the 1930s, the 40s, the 50s. And finally, thanks to your work and your talent, the miracle has happened.”

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His Ukrainian counterpart, President Petro Poroshenko wasn’t too happy about the modern marvel, stating: "I am confident that the aggressor will not succeed and will bear responsibility in full."

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I wonder if Putin has a proper driving license to drive this heavy Kamaz truck over the Crimea bridge <a href="https://t.co/1Bi5yAGVyO">pic.twitter.com/1Bi5yAGVyO</a></p>&mdash; Ivan Nechepurenko (@INechepurenko) <a href="https://twitter.com/INechepurenko/status/996362589998379010?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 15, 2018</a></blockquote>

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"The invaders will need the bridge when they have to urgently leave our Crimea."

The US State Department underscored Mr Poroshenko’s words, stating that the bridge was another part of the illegal occupation of Crimea which "belongs to Ukraine."

"The bridge represents not only an attempt by Russia to solidify its unlawful seizure and its occupation of Crimea, but also impedes navigation by limiting the size of ships that can transit the Kerch Strait, the only path to reach Ukraine's territorial waters in the Sea of Azov."

Source:

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/05/15/611392565/putins-bridge-linking-russia-to-annexed-crimea-opens