"Crucial event for Russia": Putin opens Crimean Bridge to traffic

Russian President Vladimir Putin has taken a rail bus ride from Kerch to Taman in the company of construction workers, thus opening the Crimean Bridge to traffic.

The Russian leader congratulated construction workers on completing the bridge, saying that “it has proven our ability to carry out large-scale infrastructure projects.”

Putin has also taken part via video conference in a ceremony of departure of the first Russian train to Crimea that will arrive to the peninsula via the Crimean Bridge from St. Petersburg.

The first train travelling between St. Petersburg and Sevastopol (№ 7/8) departed from the Moskovsky railway station. The journey will take 43 hours and 25 minutes, it is scheduled to arrive in Sevastopol on December 25 at 9:25 am (Moscow time).

Earlier, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov has described the opening of railroad traffic on the Crimean Bridge as "a crucial event" for Russia.