Russian court jails eight men for life over Crimean Bridge truck bombing
A Russian military court has sentenced eight men to life in prison over their alleged involvement in the 2022 truck bomb attack that ripped through the Crimean Bridge, a ruling hailed by pro-Kremlin war bloggers and firmly rejected by the defendants, who insist they are innocent.
The October 2022 explosion shattered part of the 19km bridge linking southern Russia to Crimea, killing five people, including the truck driver and four civilians in a nearby car. Ukraine’s SBU intelligence agency later claimed responsibility, saying the bridge was a key route supplying Russian forces, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.
The trial, held behind closed doors in Rostov-on-Don, accused the men of helping smuggle explosives packed in metal cylinders hidden inside rolls of plastic film. Prosecutors said the cargo was moved from Ukraine through Bulgaria, Armenia and Georgia before reaching Russia. All eight defendants denied knowing they were transporting explosives, and some said they had passed lie-detector tests and cooperated fully with investigators.
Inside a glass courtroom cage, logistics company head Oleg Antipov shouted, “We are innocent!” Lawyers argued the court blocked attempts to prove their clients’ innocence and vowed to appeal.
Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, and the bridge—opened by President Vladimir Putin in 2018—has been a symbol of Moscow’s control. After Thursday’s ruling, influential military bloggers celebrated the sentences, asserting that the men would “rot” in Russia’s harshest prisons.
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