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Putin's Judo Partner Awarded $285M Contract For Crimea Railway

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The general contractor for the construction of a railway line on the Kerch bridge between Russia and Crimea will be Arkady Rotenberg's company Stroygazmontazh, Kommersant reports. The contract is estimated to be worth 17 billion rubles ($285 million).

The contract for the controversial railway project across the Kerch bridge connecting Russia with the recently annexed Crimean peninsula was awarded to Stroygazmontazh, which is the same company constructing the bridge. The company is owned by a close associate and Judo partner of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Arkady Rotenberg.

Stroygazmontazh received the contract to build a bridge across the Kerch Strait in February 2015. The contract is worth more than 228 billion rubles ($4 billion).

Both the bridge and the railway are scheduled to become fully operational in December 2018.

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