Published May 21, 2015
The Russian government has awarded the contract for the construction of a $3 billion bridge to Crimea to a longtime ally of President Vladimir Putin.
In a decree published online Friday, the government said that a company owned by Arkady Rotenberg would be given the commission to build a bridge linking Crimea — the Black Sea peninsula that Moscow annexed from Ukraine in March — to mainland Russia.
Costs for the bridge cannot exceed 212 billion rubles ($3 billion) and it must be completed by December 2018. The contract was given to Rotenberg without a public tender, which is usual for government-commissioned projects in Russia.
Rotenberg , a childhood friend and longtime judo partner of Putin's, is on the European Union and U.S. sanctions lists.
https://www.foxnews.com/world/russian-government-awards-construction-of-3-billion-bridge-to-crimea-to-putin-ally