Bridge connects annexed Crimea to Russia – and Putin to a dream dating back to the last Tsar

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday is set to unveil a bridge linking southern Russia to the Crimean peninsula annexed from Ukraine, a highly symbolic project he has personally championed.

Known as the Crimean Bridge, it will be the longest not only in the country but also in Europe, overtaking the Vasco da Gama Bridge in Lisbon. It will stretch 18.1km when the rail portion is completed.

Built at a cost of 228 billion roubles (US$3.69 billion), the road portion of the new structure now connects the southern Krasnodar region with the Crimean city of Kerch, spanning a strait between the Black Sea and the Azov Sea.

Ukraine has condemned the project saying construction has damaged the environment and that larger ships will be unable to get through to its ports on the Azov Sea.

European Union and US sanctions have targeted those involved in the bridge, principally Putin’s close ally, businessman Arkady Rotenberg, whose company Stroygazmontazh won the construction contract.

The annexation of the peninsula in 2014 was condemned by Kiev and the West as an illegal land grab but applauded in Russia.