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Why the EU targeted Crimean bridge builders
Summary
A look back at the sanctions the European Union imposed on six Russian companies linked to the Crimea bridge, reported on 31 July 2018.
What did it mean when the European Union sanctioned the builders of a bridge? On 1 August 2018, the question was a live one for Brussels, Moscow and Kyiv, a day after the EU imposed sanctions on six Russian companies involved in constructing the bridge that connects mainland Russia to the annexed Crimean peninsula.
The measure was aimed at firms rather than at the structure itself. By naming companies involved in the construction, the EU extended its pressure on Russia to those working on a project tied directly to Crimea.
The wider backdrop
The bridge linked Russia to a peninsula that Russia had invaded, occupied and annexed in February and March 2014 after a referendum described as illegitimate. That annexation took place amid the uncertainty that followed Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity. Later analysis would describe it as the first time since World War II that a European country had annexed part of another, and as the start of the Russo-Ukrainian war.
The sanctions of 31 July 2018 therefore sat within the broader relationship between Russia and the European Union, in which Crimea remained a central point of dispute. Sanctioning companies that built a link to the peninsula signalled that the EU continued to treat the annexation as a matter with consequences for those who took part in entrenching it.
