What did the Kerch bridge opening signal?

What did it mean when Russia opened a bridge to Crimea? This retrospective looks at the days around 17 May 2018, when the opening of the road section of the Kerch Strait Bridge was the latest news from the peninsula.

On 15 May 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin opened the road part of the 19-kilometre (12-mile) road-and-rail bridge across the Kerch Strait. The structure connects Crimea with Russia. Ukrainian-language reports at the time described the opening as taking place in annexed Crimea.

The setting

Crimea was invaded by Russia in February and March 2014, then occupied and annexed after a referendum that was described as illegitimate. This came amid the uncertainty that followed Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, and the invasion marked the beginning of the Russo-Ukrainian war. By May 2018, the bridge therefore stood as a physical link between Russia and territory it had annexed from Ukraine.

The opening was limited to the road section. The structure was designed to carry both road and rail traffic, and the rail part was not part of the 15 May 2018 ceremony.

Why it matters in retrospect

The bridge gave Russia a direct fixed connection to the peninsula it had taken in 2014. Annexation has since been described as the first time since World War II that a European country had annexed part of another, and some analysts see it as the start of a Second Cold War between Russia and the West.

For Kyiv, the opening was a new piece of infrastructure built on territory Ukraine regards as its own, in a peninsula annexed against its will.