Rusia-Ukraine: Big Explosion on The Crimean Bridge, What Causes It and How Does Russia Respond?

There has been a considerable explosion on the Crimea bridge, the explosion resulted in the loss of several parts of the bridge which made the bridge unusable on one side. The Crimea Bridge explosion occurred on Saturday local time. It is known that a fuel tank suffered a devastating fire on the Kerch bridge in the Crimea region that triggered the explosion of the Crimea bridge.

 

Bridge History

The Crimea Bridge is a parallel bridge built by Russia in the Kerch Strait. The bridge connects the Park Peninsula in Krasnodar Krai with the Kerch Peninsula in crimea. With a length of 18.1 km, the bridge is the longest bridge in Russia and in Europe.The construction of this bridge has been considered at least from 1903. Its planning began in 2014 after the territory of the Crimea was annexed by Russia.

In January 2015, a multibillion-dollar construction contract was awarded to Arkady Rotenberg's SGM Group. Construction of the bridge began in May 2015, and the bridge for cars opened on May 16, 2018 The line for railways is planned to open in early 2019.The bridge is named the Crimean Bridge based on the results of an online vote in December 2017, while the "Kerch Strait Bridge" is the second choice and the "Reunification Bridge" is the third most popular choice. (SINDONEWS, 2022)

The construction of the Crimea Bridge was built by the infrastructure company

 Stroygazmontazh. The owner of the company, Arkady Rotenberg, is a person close to the Kremlin.Rotenberg was Putin's opponent when he played judo. He was even sanctioned by the United States because of his closeness to the Russian leader. Rotenburg himself became one of the richest people in Russia since Putin came to power. His wealth comes mostly from state contracts. On the other hand, the construction of the Crimea Bridge drew criticism from Ukraine, the United States, and Europe. 

This is due to the fact that Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 from Ukraine. The annexation led to Russia coming under fire and sanctions from the U.S. and the European Union. The Ukrainian side considers the construction of the bridge to be a violation of international law. Former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said Russia was building bridges aimlessly.

Not only that, the Crimea region is also isolated, making Western companies prohibited from doing business there. If you look at history, the idea of making the Crimea Bridge was first sparked in the government of Tsarist Russia Nicholas II. However, the construction of this bridge failed because the world faced World War I. After that, the German Nazi government tried to build a permanent structure in World War II, but was thwarted by the Red Army of the Soviet Union. Now, the Crimea Bridge has been successfully built by Putin, despite protests as Russia annexed the peninsula from Ukraine (CNN INDONESIA, 2022)

 

There was an explosion on the bridge