Traffic on both lanes of the Crimean bridge is scheduled to be restored by December 20, 2022, as Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin reported during President Vladimir Putin’s meeting with members of the government in Moscow on Thursday.
“We plan to restore traffic on both lanes of the right-hand side of the bridge: one lane (is ready) on December 5, the other lane, completely, (ready) on December 20,” Khusnullin said.
The deputy prime minister added that the damaged Crimean bridge railway superstructures require the replacement of two spans, and all train services are expected to resume on September 15, 2023.
“As for the railway on the bridge, there is reversible traffic on the first track. All trains are on schedule and there are no delays. Currently, the Terms of Reference have been approved for the design of the rehabilitation of the second railway track”, Khusnullin explained.
Moscow blamed the Crimean bridge blast on Ukrainian special forces, with President Vladimir Putin calling it ‘a terrorist act aimed at destroying Russia’s civilian critical infrastructure’.
The Ukrainian side has argued that the bridge was a legitimate military target, but President Volodymyr Zelensky denied his country was behind the blast.
‘We definitely did not order that, as far as I know,’ he told a Canadian TV channel, suggesting it could be the result of an internal conflict between the Russian military and its own security services.
