Vladimir Putin opens controversial bridge connecting Russia to Crimea

Russian President Vladimir Putin opened a 12-mile bridge connecting southern Russia to the Crimean peninsula on Tuesday.

The controversial Crimean Bridge links the southern Krasnodar region with the Crimean city of Kerch and spans across a stretch of water between the Black Sea and the Azov Sea.

The project cost 228 billion rubles ($3.69 billion) and will become the longest bridge in Europe, taking over the Vasco da Gama Bridge in Lisbon, Portugal.

It had been expected to be fully constructed by the end of 2018 but has been completed six months ahead of schedule and will be open to traffic on May 16, according to a Kremlin statement.

Ukraine has criticized the project, saying construction has damaged the environment and that larger ships will be unable to get through to its ports on the Azov Sea.

Makes sense to me. Build a 3.69 billion dollar bridge and not have it structured to accommodate some of the ship traffic!! To my way of irrational thinking; that would be the 1st thing on my mind to consider; BUTT, what the hell do I know??

Based on what we hear/know about The Judo Guy’s construction practices at the Olympics where he allegedly took millions, if not billions in kick-backs; I can’t help but wonder what he END was on this massive project??  Gar-an-teed; he did not walk away with ZERO.

Sochi Winter Olympic Games 2014: Russian construction insider says money used for payoffs, kickbacks

 A Moscow opposition group has launched a new website detailing what it says is the corruption that has made the Sochi Games the most expensive ever.

One major venue, the Bolshoy Ice Dome, was built by a company owned by a political crony of Putin’s for about $300 million — about $25,000 a seat — costing two-and-a-half times what it should have, the website says.

Another Putin pal, they say — Arkady Rotenberg — has pocketed almost $7 billion for work for the Games. The total bill so far is about $50 billion — five times as much as the previous Winter Games in Vancouver.  And where did the money go?

According to Valery Morozov — a major Olympic contractor who is now a fugitive living in England — the money went toward payoffs and kickbacks to Russian officials. When he tried to go public with his allegations, he received death threats and had to seek asylum in the United Kingdom.

“I was informed, that there is a contract on my assassination,” Morozov said.

Morozov says he was told by local Olympic officials to add about $30 million to his bill — and then pay that money back to those officials through phantom companies.

Some people that know The Judo Guy very well, say that he is the wealthiest person in the world. He makes Gates and Bezos look like street urchins.

It would not surprise me.