MOSCOW (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Security was stepped up in Russia after a damaging blast on Saturday destroyed parts of Russia’s key and only bridge to Crimea.
Russia President Putin has now instructed the Federal Security Service of the country, FSB to supervise the key connection to the occupied peninsula.
The bridge is significantly symbolic of Russia’s takeover of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. Investigations revealed the death of three people in the explosion.
Officials announced that repairs to the damaged sections will start right away.
Russian news reported the deputy prime minister of the country issued immediate orders to remove the damaged sections of the bridge and announced that divers will begin investigating for damages below the water surface on Sunday morning.
Russian media lauded the bridge as “the construction of the century,” and that it had proven necessary in moving military supplies, troops and weapons from Russia into southern Ukraine.
The Crimea bridge, 19km (12-mile) was inaugurated with much celebration four years after Moscow’s annexation of Crimea, but new satellite photographs released on Saturday show fire and smoke close to the damaged sections of the bridge.
The Ukrainian government stated that the peninsula was a legitimate target. It was significant from a war strategy point of view and they have promised to take it back.Â
The explosion received a veiled nod of approval from Ukrainian officials, who have not, however, confirmed that their forces were responsible.
On Saturday in his nightly address, President Volodymyr Zelensky mentioned the incident , saying: “Today was not a bad day and mostly sunny on our state’s territory. Unfortunately, it was cloudy in Crimea. Although it was also warm,” he added.
The bridge has been reopened partially to road and rail traffic, Russian authorities said on late Saturday who worked quickly to reopen those portions of the crucial connector still intact.
It serves as a crucial conduit for supplies from Moscow to the annexed Crimea region, and the front lines of its invasion of Ukraine.
Sergei Aksyonov, the Crimea’s newly Moscow-appointed governor, claimed that there was a desire for vengeance but assured that the peninsula still had over months’ worth of food and a month’s worth of fuel.
He declared that although the situation was unpleasant, it was not life-threatening yet manageable.Â
The head of Mr. Zelensky’s party in parliament, Ukrainian official David Arakhamia, stated, “Russian illegal construction is starting to fall apart and catch fire.
“The reason is simple: If you build something explosive, then sooner or later it will explode.”
Whoever carried out the attack, a Ukrainian MP told the BBC that it was a “big Ukrainian victory and very severe and hard loss for Russia”.
The bridge was damaged but not demolished. Putin’s image was devastated and that was what mattered most, Oleksiy Goncharenko said.
