Russia gives $3bn Crimea bridge contract to Putin ally

Moscow - The Russian government has awarded the contract for the construction of a $3bn bridge to Crimea to a long-time ally of President Vladimir Putin.

In a decree published online Friday, the government said that a company owned by Arkady Rotenberg would be given the commission to build a bridge linking Crimea — the Black Sea peninsula that Moscow annexed from Ukraine in March — to mainland Russia.

Costs for the bridge cannot exceed 212 billion rubles ($3bn) and it must be completed by December 2018. The contract was given to Rotenberg without a public tender, which is usual for government-commissioned projects in Russia.

Rotenberg , a childhood friend and longtime judo partner of Putin's, is on the European Union and US sanctions lists.