On Thursday, 1 October, the EU Council sanctioned two persons and four entities for their role in the construction of the bridge and railway track linking Russia to Crimea, illegally annexed, via the Kerch Strait.
The individuals are Alexander Ganov, the general director of JSC TC Grand Service Express—which operates rail services between Russia and Crimea—and Leonid Ryzhenkin, the deputy general director for infrastructure projects at Stroygazmontazh who has been supervising the construction of the bridge over the Kerch Strait since 2015.
The joint-stock companies Lenpromtransproyekt, which designed the railway approaches to the bridge and provided architectural support during the bridge’s construction, and The Berkakit-Tommot-Yakutsk Railway Line’s Construction Directorate, which provided engineering services during the construction of the railway approaches to the bridge, have also been sanctioned.
Finally, the Federal State Unitary Enterprise Crimea Railway, which owns and operates the tracks on the bridge over the Kerch Strait, and the First Crimean Insurance Company, which provides insurance services for the construction of the bridge, are subject to restrictive measures as well.
With this decision, 177 persons and 48 entities are subject to an asset freeze and a visa ban for actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty, and independence of Ukraine. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)