Russia will build a rail and road bridge from Crimea to southern Russia, President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday, confirming the long-planned project would go ahead after Russia seized the peninsula. "Here we need a bridge to take both cars and trains," Putin said at a meeting with his ministers, cited on the Kremlin website.
The bridge would allow Russia to deliver people and cargoes directly to Crimea without going through mainland Ukraine. Currently there is only a basic car and pedestrian ferry service across the 4.5 kilometre (2.8 mile) wide Kerch strait.