Reuters: Dutch prosecutor fines four companies for helping Moscow build Crimean bridge

The Dutch prosecutor has fined four Dutch companies and eight people for breaching EU sanctions on Russia between 2014 and 2017 and helping Moscow to construct a bridge to Crimea, as per Reuters.  The bridge which connects Crimea and Russia is extremely significant for Moscow as a key link for military and civilian supplies and as an assertion of Kremlin control of the peninsula it illegally annexed in 2014. The eight people were sentenced to community service ranging from 20 to 60 hours while the companies had to paid fines totalling $169,000. The prosecutors' office did not name the companies involved. The companies supplied machines, machine parts and provided other services for the construction of the bridge spanning the Strait of Kerch, the prosecutor's office said. "The Crimean bridge was built partly due to the use of Dutch knowledge and expertise," it added. The Dutch prosecutor also confiscated benefit of one company received from supplying the prohibited goods and services. Earlier, Gen Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukrainian military intelligence confirmed that the bridge is a priority target for Ukraine, and systematic strikes will persist in order to sever this vital artery supplying Russian forces in southern Ukraine.

“Putin will get upset once again,” Ukraine’s spy boss says as Kyiv vows to finish off Kerch bridge

“It’s not a question of will we strike or won’t we strike. We’re doing that regularly so we will finish it. It’s just an issue of time,” Budanov said. When asked how Putin might respond to that, Budanov stated that the Russian leader will simply “get upset once again”.

Russo-Ukrainian war, day 577. Ukraine urges civilians to leave Crimea, vows to destroy Kerch bridge