Putin drives across the Crimean bridge first time after an explosion in October

Europe, News December 6, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the reconstructed Crimea bridge and drove on it for the first time after a huge explosion damaged the bridge back in October this year.

Russian state media showed images of Putin arriving at the bridge and driving across the reconstructed bridge in a black Mercedes. Putin was seen driving the car while he was accompanied by Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin in the passenger’s seat.

The 19 kilometers long key bridge connects mainland Russia with the Crimean Peninsula. Russian President Putin personally inaugurated the bridge in 2018 by driving a truck across the bridge.

A video aired by Russia’s state-owned media outlet showed Putin driving the car from the inside as he said that “We are driving on the right-hand side. The left side of the bridge, as I understand it, is in working condition, but nevertheless, it needs to be completed. It still suffered a little, we need to bring it to an ideal state.” A huge blast and fire consumed a major section of the Crimea bridge on October 8, 2022. The timing of the blast also coincided with Putin’s 70th birthday

Ukraine never claimed responsibility for the blast but the tweets and statements from its officials suggest that the incident was no accident. Several high-level Ukrainian officials took to social media at that time to post taunting statements about the incident and its timing. The head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov posted a video of the burning bridge along with a video of Marilyn Monroe singing “Happy birthday, Mr. President.”

^{Russian President Vladimir Putin driving on the Crimean Bridge connecting the Russian mainland and the Crimean peninsula over the Kerch Strait, which was damaged by a truck bomb attack in October, after restoration works, not far from Kerch, Crimea on December 5, 2022. (Image Credit: Twitter/IRIA video grab)}

Russian administration at that time condemned remarks by Ukrainian officials saying that such comments testified to Kyiv’s “terrorist nature.” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, “The reaction of the Kyiv regime to the destruction of civilian infrastructure testifies to its terrorist nature.”

The explosion wrecked one section of the road bridge, temporarily halting traffic across the Kerch Strait. The blast also destroyed several fuel tankers on a train that was heading towards the Crimean peninsula from neighboring southern Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has always taken a keen interest in the Crimea bridge project. Putin’s ally Arkady Rotenberg’s company built the vast structure, which is Europe’s longest bridge. Putin has long lauded the project, boasting at one point that all the Russian Tsars and Soviet leaders always dreamed of building the bridge but it was only during his time as the leader of Russia that the project finally came into being.