Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian investigative authorities identified the explosion of the Crimean Bridge (Kerch Strait Bridge) as an act of a special Ukrainian agency and defined it as an act of terrorism. Tensions between the two countries are escalating as Russia has announced that it will take direct retaliation against Ukraine for the incident.
At dawn on the 8th (local time), a truck bomb exploded in the car passage area of the Crimean Bridge and the tankers of the freight train passing the railroad next to it caught fire, destroying part of the bridge. A total of three people were reported to have died in this incident. The Crimean Bridge, which opened in 2018, connects the Crimean Peninsula, which has been occupied by Russia since 2014, and the Russian mainland.
At present, the Ukrainian government authorities and military have not commented on the incident.
The Russian Kremlin released a video of Putin receiving a report from Alexander Vastrykin, chairman of the Investigative Committee, on the 9th. In the video, Putin said, “The planners, those who carried out the explosion, and those who supported it are Ukrainian special agencies. said.
Earlier, Chairman Vastrikin told Putin that the incident was “an act of terror organized by a special Ukrainian agency” and that “the purpose of the terrorist attack was to destroy a large civilian infrastructure very important to the Russian Federation”. According to Vastrikin, the truck that detonated the bomb reached the Crimean Bridge via Bulgaria, Georgia, Armenia, Russian North Ossetia and Krasnodar.
According to Russian state-run Sputnik news agency, Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of the Russian Security Council, said in an interview with a reporter from the Donbas region, “It is Ukraine, a failed country that carried out this crime (the Crimean Bridge explosion). “It is an act of terror and destruction. Russia’s only response to this crime is to destroy the terrorists directly,” he said. He announced a plan of direct retaliation against Ukraine.
He added that the mobilization order, which had not been implemented in Russia for over 80 years, is being implemented and national unity is being achieved.
Russia’s state-run Rianovosti news agency reported that Putin is scheduled to hold a security meeting on the 10th. It is expected that retaliatory measures against Ukraine in connection with the Crimean Bridge explosion will be discussed.
Kim Soo-hyun, reporter at Hankyung.com [email protected]