Kerch, also known as Keriç or Kerich, is a city of regional significance on the Kerch Peninsula in the east of Crimea. It has a population of 147,033 .
Crimea is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukraine. To the east, the Crimean Bridge, constructed in 2018, spans the Strait of Kerch, linking the peninsula with Krasnodar Krai in Russia. The Arabat Spit, located to the northeast, is a narrow strip of land that separates the Syvash lagoons from the Sea of Azov. Across the Black Sea to the west lies Romania and to the south is Turkey. The population is 2.4 million, and the largest city is Sevastopol. The region has been under Russian occupation since 2014.
The Kerch Strait is a strait in Eastern Europe. It connects the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, separating the Kerch Peninsula of Crimea in the west from the Taman Peninsula of Russia's Krasnodar Krai in the east. The strait is 3.1 kilometres (1.9 mi) to 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) wide and up to 18 metres (59 ft) deep. The most important harbor, the Crimean city of Kerch, gives its name to the strait, formerly known as the Cimmerian Bosporus or Straits of Taman. It has also been called the Straits of Yenikale after the Yeni-Kale fortress in Kerch.
PJSC Gazprom is a Russian majority state-owned multinational energy corporation headquartered in the Lakhta Center in Saint Petersburg. The Gazprom name is a contraction of the Russian words gazovaya promyshlennost. In January 2022, Gazprom displaced Sberbank from the first place in the list of the largest company in Russia by market capitalization. In 2022, the company's revenue amounted to 8 trillion rubles.
The Russia–Ukraine gas disputes refer to a number of disputes between Ukrainian oil and gas company Naftogaz Ukrayiny and Russian gas supplier Gazprom over natural gas supplies, prices, and debts. These disputes have grown beyond simple business disputes into transnational political issues—involving political leaders from several countries—that threaten natural gas supplies in numerous European countries dependent on natural gas imports from Russian suppliers, which are transported through Ukraine. Russia provides approximately a quarter of the natural gas consumed in the European Union; approximately 80% of those exports travel through pipelines across Ukrainian soil prior to arriving in the EU.
Alexey Borisovich Miller is a Russian businessman. Miller is the Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors and the Chairman of the Management Committee (CEO) of Russian energy company Gazprom, Russia's largest state-owned company and the world's biggest public energy supplier.
South Stream is a canceled pipeline project to transport natural gas of the Russian Federation through the Black Sea to Bulgaria and through Serbia, Hungary and Slovenia further to Austria. It was never finished.
The Crimean Bridge, also called Kerch Strait Bridge or Kerch Bridge, is a pair of parallel bridges, one for a four-lane road and one for a double-track railway, spanning the Kerch Strait between the Taman Peninsula of Krasnodar Krai in Russia and the Kerch Peninsula of Crimea. Built by the Russian Federation after its annexation of Crimea at the start of 2014, the bridge cost ₽227.92 billion (US$3.7 billion) and has a length of 19 km (12 mi), making it the longest bridge in Europe and the longest bridge ever constructed by Russia.
In February and March 2014, Russia invaded the Crimean Peninsula, part of Ukraine, and then annexed it. This took place in the relative power vacuum immediately following the Revolution of Dignity. It marked the beginning of the Russo-Ukrainian War.
The Republic of Crimea is a republic of Russia, comprising most of the Crimean Peninsula, but excluding Sevastopol. Its territory corresponds to the pre-2023 territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, a de jure subdivision of Ukraine. Russia occupied and annexed the peninsula in 2014, although the annexation remains internationally unrecognized.
Boris Romanovich Rotenberg is a Russian businessman and oligarch. He is co-owner of the SGM (StroyGazMontazh) group, the largest construction company for gas pipelines and electrical power supply lines in Russia. He was listed by Forbes as Russia's 69th wealthiest person in 2016 with a net worth of $1.07 billion. He is considered a close confidant of president Vladimir Putin.
Arkady Romanovich Rotenberg is a Russian billionaire businessman and oligarch. With his brother Boris Rotenberg, he was co-owner of the Stroygazmontazh, the largest construction company for gas pipelines and electrical power supply lines in Russia.
Roman Borisovich Rotenberg is a Finnish and Russian entrepreneur, manager and ice hockey executive. He is first vice-president of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation, general manager of the Russia national ice hockey team, Gazprombank vice-president, member of the Kontinental Hockey League board of directors, Deputy Chairman of the KHL board, Deputy Chairman of the SKA Hockey Club board of directors, SKA CEO and vice-president, founder of Vitawin company. Founder of a number of other companies in the sports marketing, media and sports equipment markets. He is also active in these following fields: owner of the Hartwall Arena stadium, chairman of the Arena Events board of directors and is Gazprom Export's consultant on external communications.
Nikolai Terent'yevich Shamalov, Nikolai Terent'evich Shamalov or Nikolai Terentievich Shamalov is a Belarusian-born Russian dentist, businessman, and a founding member of Ozero. He is a close confidant of Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Shamalov grew rich after obtaining a stake in Bank Rossiya.
"Bagerovo–Vyshesteblyevskaya" is a railway branch opened in 2019, which connects the Crimean Bridge into the rail networks at either end and replaced the train ferry between Kerch and Port Kavkaz. It is part of the Moscow–Crimea Main Line railway route. The construction of the branch line provides railway transit to the ports of the Crimea and the creation of a dry cargo area of the port of Taman. In combination with other enhancements, it is planned to allow reducing the time for the movement of passenger trains from Moscow to Simferopol from 2 days to 18 hours. A further branch, to the cargo yard in the area of the future Portovaya station at the Port of Taman, was put into operation in April 2016. This made it possible to bring the unloading station for delivery of construction materials 32 km closer to the construction of the Crimean Bridge. The entire line was put into temporary use in June 2019, and into permanent use in December 2019. The first regular passenger train passed on December 25, 2019.
Igor Rotenberg is a Russian billionaire businessman, and the oldest son and heir to Arkady Rotenberg, Russian billionaire businessman and co-owner with brother Boris Rotenberg, of the SGM (Stroygazmontazh) group. The Rotenbergs are closely associated with Vladimir Putin. In October 2018, Igor Rotenberg's wealth was estimated to be $1.1 billion.
Konstantin Yuryevich Nikolaev is a Russian billionaire and businessman who is a financial supporter of Maria Butina, a co-owner of the Tula Cartridge Plant that supplies very large amounts of ammunition to Russian forces during Russia-Ukraine War, American Ethane, N-Trans and Globaltrans, the largest private rail operator in Russia, CIS, and the Baltic states. He is only under sanctions by Ukraine. According to the Forbes, in 2019 Nikolaev's net worth was estimated at $1.2 billion.
The Kerch Strait incident was an international incident that occurred on 25 November 2018 in the Kerch Strait, during which the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) coast guard fired upon and captured three Ukrainian Navy vessels after they attempted to transit from the Black Sea into the Sea of Azov through the strait on their way to the port of Mariupol. It was the first time that Russian forces had openly engaged Ukrainian forces during the Russo-Ukrainian War.
Ziyad Manasir is a Jordanian-born Russian entrepreneur and businessman. He is the founder of Stroygazconsulting, a construction company based in Russia. He also is the founder of Manaseer Group.
Beginning in July 2022, a series of explosions and fires occurred on the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula, from where the Russian Army had launched its offensive on Southern Ukraine during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Occupied since 2014, Crimea was a base for the subsequent Russian occupation of Kherson Oblast and Russian occupation of Zaporizhzhia Oblast.
