16/05/2018 (Agence Europe) – On Tuesday 15 May, the spokesperson for the European External Action Service criticised the partial opening of the 19km-long Kerch Bridge linking Russia to Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed. "The Russian Federation has constructed the Kerch Bridge to the Crimean Peninsula without Ukraine's consent. This constitutes another violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity by Russia", the EEAS spokesperson stated in a press release, adding that the construction of the bridge "aims at the further forced integration of the illegally-annexed peninsula with Russia and its isolation from Ukraine of which it remains a part". The bridge limits the passage of vessels via the Kerch Strait to Ukrainian ports in the Azov Sea. (CG)