OPINION

In Azov Sea, Putin plays a very deadly Ukraine game

News, Peter Apps, Published on 28/11/2018

» When Vladimir Putin opened a new bridge linking Crimea to the rest of Russia across the Azov Sea in May, Russian officials said it was intended to integrate the disputed peninsula -- seized by Moscow from Ukraine in 2014 -- into Russia's transport infrastructure. By limiting ships transiting the Kerch Strait beneath the giant central span of the bridge, however, it also gave the Kremlin the ability to control maritime access to an area of water roughly the size of Switzerland.