Secret Putin court jails eight over humiliating Crimean Bridge bomb blast

A COURT in Russia convicted eight people on terrorism charges over an attack on a bridge that doubles as a key supply line in the war with Ukraine.

In October 2022, an enormous truck bomb detonated on the bridge, destroying two sections and causing months of repair work.

Footage shows the sheer size of the explosion which collapsed part of the road and set fire to a fuel train on the adjacent railway line.

The truck driver and four people in a nearby vehicle were killed in the blast.

Moscow described the incident as an act of terrorism and responded by striking key Ukrainian infrastructure, further damaging the country’s already weakened power grid.

The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) has since claimed responsibility for the attack.

Eight people – including Russian, Ukrainian, and Armenian citizens – were arrested.

The military court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced all the defendants to life in prison for carrying out an attack.

Five others, three Ukrainians and two Georgians, were charged in absentia.

Artyom and Georgy Azatyan, Oleg Antipov, Alexander Bylin, Vladimir Zloba, Dmitry Tyazhelykh, Roman Solomko, and Artur Terchanyan were charged with carrying out a terrorist attack and illegal arms trafficking.

Solomko and Terchanyan were also accused of smuggling explosives.

Russian authorities allege that the accused helped Ukraine organise the attack.

All of those arrested have denied the charges and maintain they did not know the truck was carrying explosives.

Lt. Gen. Vasyl Maliuk, head of the SBU, said in a 2023 interview that he and two trusted colleagues masterminded the operation, involving other individuals without their knowledge.

The court in Rostov-on-Don, about 100 kilometres east of the Ukrainian border, began trying the accused in February 2025.

The proceedings were held behind closed doors.

Antipov, an entrepreneur whose logistics company handled the cargo in the truck that exploded, initially went to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) to report the incident and offer assistance.

Although security officials first released him, he was arrested days later.

A video published online shows Antipov addressing the courtroom after the verdict, proclaiming his innocence

“We all passed eight of us passed the polygraphs,” he said.

“We proved our innocence. We cooperated fully. We went to law enforcement and gave our testimony.

“Not a single person has testified against us.

“All the witnesses say we are innocent. All the evidence says we are innocent. All 116 volumes of case files say we are innocent.

“Show the people the truth.”

The bridge linking Crimea and Russia holds both logistical and symbolic significance for Moscow.

It serves as a key route for military and civilian supplies and stands as a physical extension of the Kremlin’s control over the peninsula it illegally annexed in 2014.

After Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, Ukraine attacked the bridge twice in October 2022 using a combination of truck and drone strikes.

Some commentators have also suggested that internal rivalries within Russia or groups seeking to undermine President Putin could have been behind the attacks.

The 19-kilometre bridge spans the Kerch Strait, connecting the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, and is vital for maintaining Russian military operations in southern Ukraine.

It is the longest bridge in Europe.

Construction began in 2016 and cost an estimated £3.2 billion.

President Vladimir Putin personally opened the bridge in 2018, which was built despite strong Ukrainian opposition.