{"id":36459,"date":"2023-07-21T03:51:26","date_gmt":"2023-07-20T22:21:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=36459"},"modified":"2025-04-21T21:07:16","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T15:37:16","slug":"why-is-the-kerch-bridge-attack-significant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/why-is-the-kerch-bridge-attack-significant\/","title":{"rendered":"Why is the Kerch Bridge Attack Significant?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What Happened to the Kerch Bridge?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Why is Kerch Bridge Important?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Historical Background on Russia-Ukraine Conflict<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Significance of Black Sea for Russia<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Russia\u2019s Annexation of Crimea in 2014<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The Kerch Bridge, which links the Russian mainland to the Crimean Peninsula in the Black Sea, came under attack last week.<\/li>\n<li>One section of the bridge was damaged in what the Russians called an attack by two Ukrainian sea drones.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What Happened to the Kerch Bridge?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/6Z1w22ucWfNLgiS_fPcu7sT9AA6dGjDSbXz-0aJ8ZDVdvcWVUytUUILnFMtmNh5_z1wlYhmcz7_wdzTUYc3jWa9SS8MBvbPpT0VokTBI9tese-S32vlJ15cFePZnHe93-ndBJm8MT-CR\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Image Caption: Kerch Strait<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Kerch bridge, across the <strong>Kerch Strait<\/strong>, is 19 km long and has two parallel rail and roadways.<\/li>\n<li>It was opened in 2018 by Russian President <strong>Vladimir Putin<\/strong>, four years after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine through a contested referendum.<\/li>\n<li>Recently, according to Russian authorities, one of the sections of the bridge was blown up killing two people and injuring a child.<\/li>\n<li>A video footage released by local media showed a portion of the bridge tilted and hanging down.<\/li>\n<li>This is not the first time the bridge is being targeted. Last October, a massive truck bomb damaged the bridge and killed three people.<\/li>\n<li>Ukraine hadn\u2019t claimed responsibility when the attack took place.<\/li>\n<li>But Ukraine President <strong>Volodymyr Zelenskyy<\/strong> later termed the attack on the bridge one of the successful operations of the Ukrainian forces.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why is Kerch Bridge Important?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The bridge is important for Russia for symbolic, administrative and operational reasons.<\/li>\n<li>When Russia swiftly moved to annex Crimea in 2014, there was no direct connectivity between the Russian mainland and Crimea.<\/li>\n<li>Russia immediately ordered the construction of the bridge.<\/li>\n<li>But the bridge remained a weak link as Ukraine grew in military strength, backed by the West, in the subsequent years.<\/li>\n<li>When Russia declared a full-scale war on February 24, 2022 on Ukraine, one of the military objectives, according to experts, was to secure a \u201cland bridge\u201d from mainland Russia to Crimea.<\/li>\n<li>Russia now has the land bridge extending from north-eastern Ukraine through the Donbas and Kherson to Crimea, but it is not far from the frontline and well within the range of Ukrainian fire.<\/li>\n<li>So, the <strong>Kerch Bridge remains a critical logistical supply link for the Russian troops in the south<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Last year, Ukraine targeted the Kerch Bridge when it was planning an offensive to retake Kherson.<\/li>\n<li>The plan was to disrupt the supplies when Ukrainians attacked Russian troops on the western bank of the Dnieper River.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Historical Background on Russia-Ukraine Conflict<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Ukraine and Russia share hundreds of years of cultural, linguistic and familial links.<\/li>\n<li>As part of the Soviet Union, Ukraine was the second-most powerful Soviet republic after Russia, and was crucial strategically, economically and culturally.<\/li>\n<li>Ukraine gained independence after the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1991.<\/li>\n<li>Since then, both Russia and the West have tried to achieve greater influence in the country in order to keep the balance of power in the region in their favour.<\/li>\n<li>The Russian government fears that <u>Ukraine&#8217;s membership of the EU and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) would complete a western wall of allied countries by restricting Russia&#8217;s access to the Black Sea<\/u>.\n<ul>\n<li>NATO is an intergovernmental military alliance between 28 European countries, US, Canada and Turkey.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Significance of Black Sea for Russia<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/AuZG_0qnNCBSwAIhiVW0po6qNE4_OTqzJVfbMfNJ4sE4AkFp8W0G0zDBO_mwGAWoORd0TSvqTSUAyMuvtgrHYDymg3p25Gc3QYRlqyl2GrdGRpj0_EX4f2peBteFNkyiftvQO3GjBG14\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Image Caption: Black Sea<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Black Sea sits at an important economic and civilizational crossroads on the Eurasian landmass.<\/li>\n<li>During the Cold War period, only NATO member <strong>Turkey<\/strong> served as a counterbalance to the Soviet Union in the Black Sea, which was occasionally referred to at the time as a \u201c<strong>Soviet lake<\/strong>\u201d.<\/li>\n<li>Russia depends on the Black Sea for access to the Mediterranean and beyond, both for military operations outside its immediate neighbourhood and for exports of country\u2019s main commodity (<strong>hydrocarbons<\/strong>).<\/li>\n<li>The Black Sea\u2019s proximity to the Russian heartland means that a considerable part of European Russia could be within the range of U.S. sea- and land-based intermediate-range missiles.<\/li>\n<li>Hence, <u>Russia justifies annexation of <\/u><strong><u>Crimea<\/u><\/strong><u> (a peninsula along the northern coast of the Black Sea) in 2014 as a necessity to prevent the strategic balance from shifting decisively in NATO\u2019s favour<\/u>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Russia\u2019s Annexation of Crimea in 2014<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh4.googleusercontent.com\/_dqbS4dTZc4-_v6YxiAitxqFPdJkbYM0nTAT2EnxiJk6OkTXjqiYvciM95yKWwrgYhZgaUgqHaAqNqrw6wlTEK0pFpR8N661Fw9xUNPWdllb0yxkmdKLkF0f3H7ujQg3HoBWjSUSOyRl\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Image Caption: Russia\u2019s Annexation of Crimea<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In November 2013, the then President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych announced that he would not proceed with long-anticipated association and trade agreements with the European Union (EU).<\/li>\n<li>This led to eruption of protests across Ukraine which was followed by the resignation of the pro-Russian Viktor Yanukovych from the office. He was replaced by a pro-Western interim government.<\/li>\n<li>This led to pro-Russian separatists seizing government buildings in Crimea.<\/li>\n<li>Subsequently, Russia intervened through military action and annexed Crimea in March 2014.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>This was the first time a European country annexed territory from another country since World War II.<\/li>\n<li>Having built up a large military presence on the border from late 2021, Russia launched a full-scale attack on Ukraine on 24th February 2022, which is ongoing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Q1) Where is the Caspian Sea located?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The Caspian Sea is situated about 500 km east of the Black Sea, between south-eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is bordered by five countries: Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Azerbaijan, and Russia.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Q2) Which countries share border with Russia?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Russia borders 14 countries, Azerbaijan, Belarus, China, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Kazakhstan, North Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Mongolia, Norway, Poland, and Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Source:<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/specials\/text-and-context\/explained-why-is-kerch-bridge-attack-significant\/article67101627.ece#:~:text=So%2C%20the%20Kerch%20Bridge%20remains,bank%20of%20the%20Dnieper%20River\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>Explained | Why is Kerch Bridge attack significant?<\/u><\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kerch Bridge links the Russian mainland to the Crimean Peninsula.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":36460,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-36459","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36459\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}