Ukraine’s demands to dismantle Crimean Bridge ‘absurd’ – Russian ambassador-at-large to RT

Ukrainian demands before an international court that the Crimean Bridge be demolished are absurd, according to Russian Ambassador-at-Large Gennady Kuzmin. Kiev claims Russia erected the structure illegally.

Kuzmin made the remarks in an interview with RT. The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague had concluded final hearings on Ukraine’s case against Russia concerning coastal state rights in the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov, and the Kerch Strait.

Ukraine initiated the proceedings in 2016 in connection with the Crimean bridge’s construction, accusing Russia of violating international sea laws on freedom of navigation. 

Crimea voted in a referendum to join Russia in 2014 following a US-backed coup in Kiev earlier the same year. The bridge was completed in 2020.

Ukraine claims sovereignty over Crimea and argues that the Sea of Azov, which is separated from the Black Sea by the Kerch Strait, is an international body of water, to which the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea applies.

Such accusations and claims are “groundless,” Kuzmin told RT, explaining that the dispute in general is not governed by the UN Convention due to the fact that the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait are historically Russia’s internal waters.

“Since March 2014, Russia has been the only coastal state in the Kerch Strait. The decision to build the Crimean Bridge was made within the sovereign powers of the coastal state in order to quickly resolve the serious economic and humanitarian problems of Crimea that arose due to the inhumane blockade of the peninsula by Ukraine,” the ambassador said.

He further dismissed Kiev’s claims that the bridge interferes with shipping and has a negative impact on the marine environment, as well as that the Russian side conducts unjustified inspections of sea vessels in the strait.

“We have presented all relevant evidence to the arbitration, more than 15,000 pages of materials. During the oral hearings, our lawyers, with the help of experts and witnesses, convincingly refuted every Ukrainian assertion,” Kuzmin said.

An assessment of the project’s impact on the environment has shown that those allegations are also untrue, the ambassador said, adding that continued attempts by Kiev to destroy the bridge confirm its “terrorist nature.”

By attacking the bridge repeatedly, Ukraine has clearly demonstrated it is neither concerned about people, nor about the safety of navigation, nor the safety of the marine environment, Kuzmin said.

Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, Kiev has made a number of attempts to destroy the bridge, including the use of Western-supplied long-range missiles, naval drones packed with explosives, and explosives smuggled in vehicles. The attacks resulted in civilian casualties.