The 19-kilometre (11.8 miles) bridge, which runs across the Kerch Strait and connects Crimea with mainland Russia, consists of a railway and vehicle sections.

The visit to India by Sergey Aksyonov, Head of the Republic of Crimea, accompanying Russian President Vladimir Putin has raised the hackles in the West with the US saying it was 'troubled' by the news and an angry Ukrainian President decrying it.