Putin inspects construction of Crimean bridge

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at a meeting of the State Council presidium on transport system in the south, in Kerch, Crimea, Thursday, Sept. 15, 2016. (Alexei Druzhinin/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) (The Associated Press)

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Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev visit Mithridates Hill while sightseeing Kerch, Crimea, Thursday, Sept. 15, 2016. President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev arrived in Kerch to attend a meeting of the State Council presidium on transport system in the south. (Alexander Astafyev/Sputnik, Government Pool Photo via AP) (The Associated Press)

From left, Crimean leader Sergei Aksyonov, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev listen to Crimean Museum director Tatyana Umrikhina in Kerch, Crimea on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2016. Russian President Vladimir Putin is due to hold a Presidential Security Council meeting and attend an event at the Kerch Bridge site. (Alexei Druzhinin/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) (The Associated Press)

MOSCOW – Russian President Vladimir Putin has inspected construction work on a mammoth bridge intended to link the Crimean Peninsula to mainland Russia.

Putin, who was in the Crimean city of Kerch Thursday, visited the construction site for the 19-kilometer (12-miles) bridge across the Kerch Strait set to open in December 2018

After annexing Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014, Russia has moved to improve the Black Sea peninsula's transport and energy infrastructure. Those efforts have grown more urgent as the Ukrainian government last year barred all commercial transport from crossing into Crimea via a strip of Ukrainian land.

Russia has also laid undersea power cables to Crimea to end its reliance on Ukraine. Crimea last year experienced severe shortages after anti-Russia protesters in Ukraine blocked power supplies.