A new snub to Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin inaugurated on Monday, December 23, the railroad connecting Crimea to mainland Russia, Moscow having annexed the peninsula in 2014. "This is a pleasant and very important event for Crimea (... ), for the south of Russia and for our whole country ", welcomed the Russian president, during the inauguration ceremony.
In a very different tone, the European Union denounced "a new violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine by Russia". "The rail link is another step towards a forced integration of the peninsula illegally annexed to Russia and towards the isolation of the Crimea from Ukraine, of which it remains a part," said the spokesman for European Foreign Minister Josep Borrell in a statement.
A first crossing by Poutine
"In addition, the bridge restricts the passage of vessels through the Kerch Strait to Ukrainian ports in the Sea of Azov. The European Union expects Russia to ensure free and unhindered passage through the Kerch Strait , in accordance with international law, "he added.
The railway is located on the bridge connecting the Kerch peninsula in Crimea to that of Taman in southern Russia. Vladimir Putin made the first crossing, 19 km long, in the locomotive cab next to the driver.
The road part of the bridge was inaugurated in May 2018. The Russian president then made the crossing at the wheel of an orange truck, at the head of a column of ten vehicles. The construction of this work had been launched in February 2016 and entrusted to the billionaire Arkadi Rotenberg, judo partner of Vladimir Poutine.
Fourteen million passengers in 2020
The trains that will now connect Moscow and Saint Petersburg to Simferopol, the capital of Crimea, are expected to carry 14 million passengers in 2020. The first train left Saint Petersburg on Monday. The journey should take 43.5 hours.
Russia annexed the Ukrainian Crimean peninsula in March 2014 after a connecting referendum denounced by Kiev and the West.
>> Read also: Five years after the annexation of Crimea, Russia celebrates "reunification"
This annexation was followed by an armed conflict between the Ukrainian forces and the pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, still ongoing, which left more than 13,000 people dead.
With AFP
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