Russian President Vladimir Putin plots revenge over Kerch Bridge explosion
Russian president calls extraordinary security council meeting as Stavropol deputy governor warns Sarmat missiles ‘ready to strike Ukrainian cities’.
Vladimir Putin has called an extraordinary Russian security council meeting on Monday where he is expected to give a response to Saturday’s massive explosion which caused significant damage to one of his “personal” projects, the Kerch Bridge, which links Crimea to the Russian mainland.
The Kremlin announced on Sunday that Mr Putin will convene the Monday security gathering – the meetings are usually held on a Friday – amid heightened fears as to what the Russian president’s reaction will be. Some of his closest political allies within Russia have called for “revenge”.
Late Sunday, Mr Putin blamed the Ukraine special services for the Kerch Bridge attack, saying it was a terrorist act intended to destroy critical infrastructure of the Russian Federation. The remarks were made in a video released by the Kremlin, where Mr Putin was shown in his office speaking to Alexander Bastrykin, chairman of the Russian investigative Committee.
Valery Chernitsov, the deputy governor of Stavropol, a region in Russia’s south, tweeted a warning on Sunday: “Ukrainians, leave your cities, especially the large ones. Because a big surprise is waiting for you. Sarmat missiles are ready to strike”.
Deputy governor of Stavropol Valery Chernitsov claiming that nuclear capable Sarmat rockets will be used to target Ukranian cities.https://t.co/xYtxldf4GX#Ukraineï¸#NATO#EuropeanUnion#UnitedKingdom#balticpic.twitter.com/ZjGAs2vlEk
— CBRNMASK.COM (@CBRNMASK1) October 9, 2022
Crimea’s Russian-aligned governor Sergei Aksyonov said the situation at the bridge was “manageable, it’s unpleasant, but not fatal”, before adding, “of course, emotions have been triggered and there is a healthy desire to seek revenge”.
The UK Ministry of Defence said the partial crippling of the bridge will have touched Mr Putin “closely”.
“This incident will likely touch President Putin closely; it came hours after his 70th birthday, he personally sponsored and opened the bridge, and its construction contractor was his childhood friend, Arkady Rotenberg”, the ministry said in its intelligence update.
In addition, Mr Putin had been assured of the security of the bridge by his former bodyguard and now commander of the Russian National Guard, Viktor Zolatov.
On Sunday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS: “Tomorrow the president is scheduled to hold a meeting with the permanent members of the Security Council,” he said.
Mr Peskov did not specify whether the situation with the Crimean bridge would be discussed at the meeting. “We’ll let you know following the results [of the meeting],” he said.
The Kerch Bridge was damaged when a truck exploded on Saturday morning local time, causing the collapse of two parts of the road section of the bridge and igniting a train carrying fuel tanks on a separate rail link. At least three people died in the blast, which has impacted the ability of Russia to move troops and supplies to the south of Ukraine to Kherson and the Zaporizhzhia areas.
Analysts have noted that the explosion has had major operational as well as symbolic success, with Mr Putin having personally opened the bridge four years ago by driving an orange truck across the 16km span despite an international outcry at the time about the annexation of Crimea.
The UK defence assessment was that two of the four carriageways of the roadway had collapsed in several places over a length of approximately 250m.
“It is almost certain that some vehicle transits via the other two carriageways have resumed, but capacity will be seriously degraded,’’ the ministry said. It noted that the rail link had been previously used to move heavy military equipment into southern Ukraine.
Hours after the explosion, Mr Putin ordered an FSB intelligence-led investigation and enhanced security of the bridge as well as security around the electricity and natural gas pipelines to the peninsular.
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