MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin drove a large construction truck Tuesday to road test the much-anticipated bridge linking southern Russia and the Crimean peninsula that Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
The 19-kilometer (11.8-mile) bridge, which took two years to build and cost $3.6 billion is Putin’s project to show that Crimea has joined Russia for good. Transportation links to Crimea deteriorated after both the Ukrainian and Russian militaries set up checkpoints into the peninsula and trains crossing the Ukrainian mainland were canceled.
Putin traveled to southern Russia to inspect the construction site and to lead the opening ceremony for …read more
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
