AFP
Moscow
President Vladimir Putin on Monday stood in the driver’s cabin of a train for the official opening of a railway bridge that links annexed Crimea to southern Russia, with the launch drawing sharp criticism from Ukraine and the EU.
During his ride from Kerch in Crimea in a shortened three-carriage train, Putin also spent time drinking tea with engineers on the 227-billion-ruble ($3.6-billion) project.
The rail bridge, which Putin praised as "magnificent,” is 19 kilometres long. The bridge for car traffic opened in May last year when the president drove a truck across it.
The total rail route from the northwestern city of Saint Petersburg to the Crimean port city of Sevastopol covers a distance of 2,500 kilometres.
Putin said the bridge would restore rail links to Crimea severed in 2014 when Moscow annexed the peninsula, sparking an ongoing separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine that has claimed more 13,000 lives.
Ukraine was unhappy about both the rail link and Putin’s presence at the opening.
The European Union also sharply criticised the opening of the rail link, terming it "another violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty”.
Moscow
President Vladimir Putin on Monday stood in the driver’s cabin of a train for the official opening of a railway bridge that links annexed Crimea to southern Russia, with the launch drawing sharp criticism from Ukraine and the EU.
During his ride from Kerch in Crimea in a shortened three-carriage train, Putin also spent time drinking tea with engineers on the 227-billion-ruble ($3.6-billion) project.
The rail bridge, which Putin praised as "magnificent,” is 19 kilometres long. The bridge for car traffic opened in May last year when the president drove a truck across it.
The total rail route from the northwestern city of Saint Petersburg to the Crimean port city of Sevastopol covers a distance of 2,500 kilometres.
Putin said the bridge would restore rail links to Crimea severed in 2014 when Moscow annexed the peninsula, sparking an ongoing separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine that has claimed more 13,000 lives.
Ukraine was unhappy about both the rail link and Putin’s presence at the opening.
The European Union also sharply criticised the opening of the rail link, terming it "another violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty”.