From our newsroom on the $3 billion plum contract that has gone to a Putin ally:
The Russian government has awarded the contract for the construction of a $3 billion bridge to Crimea to a longtime ally of President Vladimir Putin.
The government on January 30 published a decree on its website naming the Stroygazmontazh (SGM) company as the contractor to build a bridge linking Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Moscow annexed from Ukraine in March, with Russia over the Kerch Strait.
SGM is owned by Arkady Rotenberg, a childhood friend and longtime judo partner of Putin's.
Rotenberg is barred from entering or holding assets in the United States and European Union under sanctions imposed over Russia's interefence in Ukraine.
The government decree said the cost of the bridge cannot exceed 212 billion rubles ($3 billion) and the project must be completed by December 2018.
The contract was awarded without a public tender.
Based on reporting by Reuters and AP
Pro-Kyiv Euromaidan PR is quick to blame the reported incident on "RU #terrorist."