Russia convicts eight over attack on key Crimea bridge
A Russian court on Thursday sentenced eight people to life in prison on terrorism charges for an attack on the bridge connecting Russia to Moscow-annexed Crimea, a critical supply route for Russian forces engaged in the war in Ukraine.
The attack occurred in October 2022, when a truck bomb destroyed two sections of the 19-kilometer bridge over the Kerch Strait, killing the truck driver and four people in a nearby car. The explosion required months of repairs. Moscow labeled the attack an act of terrorism and retaliated by targeting Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure, including its power grid. Ukraine’s Security Service, the SBU, later claimed responsibility.
The eight convicted include Russian, Ukrainian, and Armenian citizens: Artyom and Georgy Azatyan, Oleg Antipov, Alexander Bylin, Vladimir Zloba, Dmitry Tyazhelykh, Roman Solomko, and Artur Terchanyan. They were charged with carrying out a terrorist attack and illegal arms trafficking, with Solomko and Terchanyan additionally accused of smuggling explosives. Five other individuals, including three Ukrainians and two Georgians, were charged in absentia. Russian authorities accused the defendants of assisting Ukraine in orchestrating the attack. All have denied knowing the truck contained explosives.
Lt. Gen. Vasyl Maliuk, head of the SBU, previously said in a 2023 interview that he and two trusted colleagues planned the attack, using others without their knowledge. The trial, held behind closed doors, began in February 2025 at a military court in Rostov-on-Don, about 100 kilometers from the Ukraine border.
Among the defendants, Oleg Antipov, whose logistics company handled the shipment of the truck, said he immediately went to the Russian Federal Security Service to cooperate after learning of the blast. Days later, he was arrested. In court after the verdict, Antipov insisted, “We are innocent. We are innocent,” claiming that all polygraph tests, witness statements, and evidence supported their innocence.
The bridge, which links the Black Sea and Azov Sea, carries both road and rail traffic and is strategically vital to Russia’s military operations in southern Ukraine. It also has significant symbolic value for Moscow as a demonstration of control over Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the bridge has been attacked twice: first in October 2022 with a truck bomb and again in July 2023 with sea drones, the latter killing two people. Spanning 19 kilometers, it is the longest bridge in Europe and remains a prominent symbol of Russian claims over Crimea, built despite strong objections from Ukraine.
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