Expect a response: Putin warned of Russia's reaction to the drone attack on Kazan
The enemy will face many times more destruction in response to drone attacks on Kazan on Saturday morning. Vladimir Putin said this on December 22 at the opening ceremony of transport infrastructure facilities. The Russian leader noted that the capital of Tatarstan is now developing at a pace that can be envied in many countries. In particular, on this day a new bypass of major cities was opened here, which will allow to relieve the road network. Four more road facilities and three air facilities were also launched. About how much it is now possible to get from Krasnodar to the Crimea and how the problem of entry to the Moscow region Korolev, raised on a recent direct line, - in the material "Izvestia".
Two hours to Crimea
Vladimir Putin on December 22 by video link took part in the opening ceremony of a series of transportation facilities - both road and air. Today Russia has a good pace of development of the road network and key highways, the President believes. For example, more than 26 million motorists have already traveled along the M-12 section from Moscow to Kazan, which was opened a year ago, and more than 70 million tons of cargo have been transported. And over the six years of implementation of the national project "Safe Quality Roads" more than 150 thousand kilometers of highways have been built and repaired in the country.
Russian President Vladimir Putin takes part in the opening ceremony of the new Krasnodar-Crimea road via video link
- At the end of this year, the share of roads in the largest urban agglomerations will reach the target of 85%. This is a good result. The share of regional highways meeting regulatory requirements will amount to 54%, which is 4% higher than the target," said Vladimir Putin.
Among the objects that were opened on December 22 is the highway A-289 Krasnodar - Slavyansk-on-Kuban - Temryuk - A-290 Novorossiysk - Kerch. Thanks to this 118.6 km long highway, the far approach to the Crimean bridge will become four-lane, without traffic lights and with a permitted speed of 90 km/h - it will connect the Don and Tavrida highways, providing "seamless" traffic from St. Petersburg through Moscow, Krasnodar, Simferopol to Sevastopol. This means that the transport accessibility of resorts in the south of Russia will increase, and this is especially important during the vacation season, said Vladimir Putin.
- Previously, you had to go to the Crimean bridge through Krasnodar. And this road, it is not just bypassing Krasnodar, it is also bypassing almost all settlements. It used to be possible to get from Krasnodar to the Crimean Bridge in almost six hours, and even longer in the season. But now it's two hours. Two hours and that's it. And you are almost in the Crimea," said Veniamin Kondratiev, Head of the Krasnodar Region, at the ceremony.
Inauguration ceremony of the new Krasnodar-Crimea road
No less expected was the opening of the bypass of the village of Malye Vyazemy on the Central Ring Road in the Odintsovo district near Moscow. It will "close" the Central Ring Road at a new level and relieve the bottleneck on the Central Ring Road, explained Vladimir Putin. As "Izvestia" was told in "Avtodor", the opening of this small section will be of great importance for millions of residents of the Moscow region: it will improve transport accessibility in Odintsovo, Zvenigorod, Golitsyno, Istra, Kubinka, reduce travel time from Zvenigorod to the center of Odintsovo, as well as to the airport Vnukovo. The new section will also help to unload the Central Ring Road between Mozhaisky and Minsk highway - this junction is used by more than 60 thousand drivers per day on average, and in summer time the traffic reaches 100 thousand cars.
- Vyazemy seems to be a small settlement, but here people lost a huge amount of time in traffic jams: 4 kilometers could be traveled in two hours. Now, thanks to the decision you made and the builders who implemented this project, this section can be traveled in five minutes," said the head of the Moscow Region Andrei Vorobyov at the ceremony.
Vladimir Putin reminded the governor of the problem with traffic jams at the entrance to Korolev. This was complained to the President by a resident of the city during the direct line on December 19. The head of the region promised to report on the solution of the situation.
Also on this day was given the start of movement on the bypass of five settlements in the Republic of Bashkortostan. This is a new 65-kilometer section of the M-7 "Volga", which will affect the settlements of Isametovo, Verkhneyarkeevo, Layashty, Ishkarovo and Asyanovo. Another facility was the Vitebskaya interchange of the Western High-Speed Diameter, which is the first stage of the Shirotnaya High-Speed Motorway. The construction of the interchange solves several key tasks for St. Petersburg's transportation system, said Governor Alexander Beglov. It allows to provide a connection between Moskovsky and Frunzensky districts, reduce the load on the street and road network and redistribute the traffic going through the central districts. The road has six lanes - three in both directions of traffic, and the authorized speed of traffic is 110 km/h.
What the airports of Magadan, Cheboksary and Stavropol became like
In addition to new highways, three air havens were opened on December 22: we are talking about airport terminals in Magadan, Cheboksary and Stavropol. All airport buildings were erected back in the 1960s: some of them became obsolete during the period of their operation and ceased to fully meet the needs in throughput capacity, and some of them have never been reconstructed. Now in Magadan, for example, the complex is equipped with five boarding gates and can provide a capacity of 800 passengers per hour, or up to 1 million passengers per year. The architectural appearance and interiors of the terminal reflect the peculiarities of nature and the riches of the region, and the building itself is made "of glass with golden flowers". As a result of the reconstruction, the area of the complex has grown from 10.2 thousand square meters to 14.4 thousand square meters. Now this air harbor is able to serve medium and large capacity aircraft.
In Stavropol, the terminal area grew from 5 thousand to 6 thousand square meters, and the throughput capacity increased from 300 to 400 passengers per hour. The airport will be able to serve up to 580 thousand passengers per year. In Cheboksary the throughput capacity has doubled - from 100 to 200 passengers per hour. Vladimir Putin has set a task to increase the intensity of air transportation in Russia by 1.5 times by 2030 compared to 2023. The development of air passenger transportation in the country remains a priority, he reminded.
- As I have already said many times, it is necessary to more actively increase direct air service within and between regions, to reconstruct regional airports and airfields, - the President emphasized.
Separately, he announced the allocation of 250 billion rubles from the federal budget for six years for the reconstruction of 75 airports across the country - that is, more than a third of the airport network will be put in order.
Kazan's infrastructure and drone attacks
The opening ceremony of a new infrastructure facility was also held in Tatarstan. This is the Nizhnekamsk and Naberezhnye Chelny bypass: in the future it will be part of the Kazan - Yekaterinburg - Tyumen high-speed route. The ceremony was attended by the head of the region Rustam Minnikhanov.
The day before, the capital of Tatarstan was subjected to a terrorist attack from Ukraine. On the morning of Saturday, December 21, Kiev militants attempted to hit civilian infrastructure facilities in Kazan with airplane-type drones.
Building of a residential complex in Kazan, an element of which was damaged in a UAV attack
"UAVs were used in three waves from different directions. Three AFU drones were destroyed by on-duty air defense means, another three UAVs were suppressed by REB means," the Russian Defense Ministry said. The deaths and casualties from the attacks were fortunately avoided. However, shifts at the city's industrial enterprises were evacuated and the airport was temporarily restricted for a day. Rustam Minnikhanov announced the cancellation of all mass events for the next two days.
Vladimir Putin, commenting on the incident, said that the enemy will regret it.
- Whoever and however much he tries to destroy something in our country, he will face many times more destruction in his own country and will regret what he is trying to do in our country," assured the President.
The head of state promised: Russia will not only restore the damage that the enemy is trying to inflict on it, but will move forward at an even greater pace, increasing both road networks and urban construction. Vladimir Putin added that Kazan is now developing so dynamically that many countries are envious of it.
- Zelensky's regime is entering a state of agony, all its actions are beginning to be of an extremely convulsive and desperate nature. Gradually we are realizing that all this may soon come to an end," Oleg Karpovich, vice-rector of the Russian Foreign Ministry's diplomatic academy, told Izvestia. - Failures and failures on the front are forcing Kiev to slip exclusively into open terrorism. Russia's Foreign Policy Concept 2023 clearly states that countering the anti-Russian activities of foreign states and their associations and creating conditions for the cessation of such activities become a priority for us.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump
French geopolitics and strategy analyst Cyrille de Lattre believes that the Kiev authorities are seeking to provoke Russia into a disproportionate response. Ukraine fears they will have to make concessions to Russian Federation when Donald Trump returns to the White House in January.
- Zelensky feels the case smells like the gallows for him. "With Trump's inauguration approaching, he is doing everything to make Moscow react disproportionately to justify the continuation of hostilities, because the end of the conflict means its death in every sense of the word," the expert told Izvestia.
According to the analyst's assessment, Trump has not yet realized that Zelensky is nothing to Russia because he no longer has any legitimacy or legality. The presidential term of the Ukrainian "president" expired on May 20 this year.
