- Title: 'What a beauty of a bridge' - Putin crosses from Crimea to Russia on first train
- Date: 23rd December 2019
- Summary: KERCH, CRIMEA (DECEMBER 23, 2019) (RUSSIAN POOL) RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN WALKING INTO TRAIN CABIN, GREETING DRIVER MAN HEARD SAYING OFF CAMERA (Russian): 'YOU NEED TO GIVE A START COMMAND', PUTIN SAYS (Russian): 'LET'S GO!', DRIVER ASKS PUTIN TO GIVE A STARTING WHISTLE PUTIN USES TRAIN WHISTLE PUTIN WAVES TO PEOPLE ON PLATFORM TRAIN DRIVING OUTSIDE KERCH KERCH STRAIT (DECEMBER 23, 2019) (RUSSIAN POOL) TRAIN CABIN SEEN FROM OUTSIDE VARIOUS OF TRAIN MOVING ON BRIDGE TRAIN APPROACHING BRIDGE ARCH TRAIN MOVING UNDER ARCH PUTIN TURNS BACK TO CONSTRUCTION OFFICIAL PUTIN SAYS (Russian): 'WHAT A BEAUTY OF A BRIDGE' TRAIN MOVING ON BRIDGE MAN BRINGS PUTIN TEA, AS HE SITS IN RESTAURANT CARRIAGE WITH CONSTRUCTION WORKERS WORKERS SPEAKING WITH PUTIN UNIDENTIFIED WORKER TELLING PUTIN (Russian): 'WHAT GOOD CAN WE SAY? WE HAVE WON! THANKS TO EVERYONE.' (PUTIN REPLIES: 'NATURALLY.') PUTIN AND WORKERS SPEAKING VARIOUS OF TRAIN DRIVING TAMAN, RUSSIA (DECEMBER 23, 2019) (RUSSIAN POOL) PUTIN AND OFFICIALS WALKING OUT OF TRAIN STATION (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN, SAYING: "(SHOT STARTS OVER PUTIN APPEARING ON STAGE IN FRONT OF CONSTRUCTION WORKERS, WORKERS CHEER) Good day dear friends! Today we have a pleasant and a very important occasion, it is important for Crimea, (CONTINUES IN CLOSE-UP) for Sevastopol, for the whole Russian south and for the whole Russia, because naturally such infrastructure projects, such as this landmark bridge that you have built, will have impact on the whole economy." WORKERS TAKING PICTURES (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN, SAYING: "You have shown that we can use our domestic technologies, make such large-scale projects a reality. With no exaggeration, it inspires confidence in every one of us that we are capable of doing such projects (CONTINUES IN WIDER SHOT) and will do them in the future. Thank you!" PUTIN WAVES TO WORKERS AND LEAVES WORKERS CHEER KERCH STRAIT (FILE) (MUTE) (RUSSIAN POOL) PROMO VIDEO FOR BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION
- Embargoed: 6th January 2020 12:27
- Keywords: Crimea Kerch bridge Putin Russia Ukraine train
- Location: KERCH, CRIMEA / TAMAN, RUSSIA / KERCH STRAIT
- City: KERCH, CRIMEA / TAMAN, RUSSIA / KERCH STRAIT
- Country: Russia
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001BB74X8N
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:President Vladimir Putin on Monday (December 23) opened a rail route linking Russia's two biggest cities to Crimea, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014, and said it proved that the country could deliver on giant infrastructure projects.
Putin inaugurated the passenger service by personally taking a train across the road and rail bridge which Russian engineers built to link Crimea to southern Russia after an earlier pre-annexation route which ran through Ukraine was shut down.
European Union sanctions ban European citizens and companies from investing in Crimea, including in the peninsula's transport and infrastructure, something which complicated Russia's drive to build the 212-billion-rouble ($3.4 billion) bridge.
Construction of the bridge, which is 19 km long (11.8 miles), was opposed by Ukraine, which says it wants the Black Sea peninsula back. The Kremlin has ruled out returning Crimea.
The bridge, likely to be viewed as an important part of Putin's legacy, was designed to integrate Crimea into Russia's economy and to end its relative isolation by allowing Russia to supply it by road and rail as well as by sea and air.
Putin said the new rail route would carry around 14 million passengers and about 13 million tonnes of freight next year.
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