Prosecutors in the Netherlands have fined 4 companies in the country and 8 individuals for violating European Union sanctions against Russia between 2014 and 2017, during which they helped Moscow build the Kerch Bridge, which connects Crimea with the rest of Russia, Reuters reports.

8 fined persons were also sentenced to community service, punishment from 20 to 60 hours. The total amount of fines applied to the companies was 160,000 euros.

According to a press release from the Dutch prosecutor’s office, the companies were sanctioned because they provided machinery, machine components and other services for the construction of the Kerch bridge.

“The Crimean bridge was built thanks to the use of Dutch know-how and experience,” the report says.

It also states that one of the sanctioned companies benefited from the provision of prohibited goods and services and that the ill-gotten gains amounting to €71,330 were confiscated.

The names of the fined companies were not mentioned in the release.

The Crimean bridge, the project of the soul of President Vladimir Putin

The 19-kilometer bridge was built by Moscow after the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, which connects the peninsula, which has no drinking water supply of its own, to Russia via the Kerch Strait, which connects the Black Sea to the sea. Azov Although the bridge’s official Russian name is Crimean Bridge, it is also known as Kerch Bridge because of the strait it crosses.

Putin personally opened the bridge in the spring of 2018, saying at the time that “several times in history, even under the tsars, people dreamed that this bridge would be built. They tried again in the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, and finally, thanks to your work and talent, this miracle is happening!”.

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, Ukraine has carried out several attacks on the target, the first of which took place on October 8 last year, when traffic was closed for several months after a massive explosion severely damaged a bridge.

Two days later, Russia launched a wave of missile strikes on Ukrainian cities across the country. They were launched on Monday morning as people headed to work to maximize civilian casualties.

On Monday afternoon, President Vladimir Putin came out in person to announce “revenge attacks” for the Kerch Bridge shelling, with the sabotage operation by Ukrainian special forces coming a day after the Kremlin leader turned 70.

Last December, Putin personally inspected the bridge after it was reopened to traffic, and the Russian president drove over it in a Mercedes Benz.

Follow the latest events of the 597th day of the war in Ukraine LIVETEXT on HOTNEWS.RO.