Russia Sentences Eight to Life Over 2022 Crimean Bridge Blast

A Russian court on Thursday sentenced eight men to life imprisonment over the 2022 explosions that heavily damaged the Crimean Bridge — an attack both Moscow and Kyiv have attributed to Ukrainian intelligence.

The October 8, 2022 blast, triggered by an explosives-laden truck, killed five people and partially destroyed the 19-kilometre bridge linking mainland Russia with the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014. Kyiv later acknowledged responsibility, saying the operation was intended to disrupt Russia’s military supply lines.

In a statement on Telegram, Russia’s Southern Military District Court in Rostov-on-Don said the defendants had been found guilty and handed life sentences. Their trial was held behind closed doors in a military court.

The men have denied all charges, and one of their lawyers told state media that the verdict will be appealed.

Viewed by both Russia and Ukraine as a potent symbol of Moscow’s 2014 annexation, the bridge was personally inaugurated by President Vladimir Putin in 2018, when he drove a truck across it. Despite the ongoing conflict, Moscow had repeatedly insisted the crossing was secure, though it has been targeted several times during the war.

The defendants were convicted of carrying out a “terrorist act” that resulted in deaths and of illegally acquiring weapons as part of an organized group, the court said. Two of them were additionally charged with smuggling explosives.