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What Putin's Crimean Bridge accusation followed in October 2022
Summary
A look back at the days around 10 October 2022, when Moscow's annexation moves were followed by an accusation against Ukraine over the Crimean Bridge blast.
What had Russia's leadership done in the days before 10 October 2022, and whom did it blame for the explosion on the Crimean Bridge?
On 4 October 2022, the Federation Council of Russia unanimously approved the annexation of Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. The annexation documents were then due to receive final signing by President Vladimir Putin.
On 5 October 2022, Putin signed a law formally annexing the Donetsk People's Republic, the Luhansk People's Republic, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia into Russia.
On 9 October 2022, Putin formally accused Ukraine, and specifically the Security Service of Ukraine, of being behind the explosion on the Crimean Bridge. The blast killed three people and partially destroyed part of the bridge. Putin described it as an act of terrorism.
Taken together, the sequence from 4 to 9 October 2022 set out the position Moscow held as the covered date began: the four regions had been formally claimed through Russian legislative steps, and Ukraine's security service had been publicly named as responsible for the bridge explosion.
