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Kerch bridge opens and Poland expels a Russian woman
Summary
A look back at two developments on the Russia–Ukraine axis in the days before 18 May 2018: the opening of the road section of the Kerch Strait Bridge, and a Polish expulsion.
What did the days leading up to 18 May 2018 reveal about the tensions around Ukraine? Two reported events offer a view: a bridge linking Crimea to Russia, and an expulsion in Poland.
On 15 May 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin opened the road section of the Kerch Strait Bridge. The structure is 19 kilometres (12 miles) long and carries both road and rail links between Crimea and Russia. Its road part was the portion opened that day.
The bridge connects a peninsula that Russia invaded and occupied in February and March 2014 and then annexed after an illegitimate referendum. That took place amid the uncertainty that followed Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity. Later analysis has treated the annexation as the start of the Russo-Ukrainian war and as the first annexation of part of one European country by another since World War II.
On 17 May 2018, Poland detained a Russian woman identified as Yekaterina C. and expelled her. She was part of a pro-Russian group that sought to whip up tension between Poland and Ukraine.
The two events were separate, and they involved different countries and different circumstances. Both, however, concerned Russia's reach in Ukraine's neighbourhood: one through a physical link to occupied Crimea, the other through an effort to inflame relations between two neighbours, which Polish authorities answered with detention and expulsion.
