What came after the Crimean Bridge blast and annexation
A look back at the political backdrop in the days before 10 October 2022, from Russia's annexation laws to its accusation against Ukraine's security service.
What was the political picture on 10 October 2022? It was shaped by two developments in the preceding days: Russia's formal annexation of four Ukrainian regions and its public accusation that Ukraine was behind the explosion on the Crimean Bridge.
The annexation sequence
On 4 October 2022, the Federation Council of Russia unanimously approved the annexation of Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. The annexation documents were then due for final signing by President Vladimir Putin. On 5 October 2022, he signed a law formally annexing the Donetsk People's Republic, the Luhansk People's Republic, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia into Russia.
The bridge accusation
On 9 October 2022, Putin formally accused Ukraine, and specifically the Security Service of Ukraine, of being behind the explosion on the Crimean Bridge. The blast killed three people and partially destroyed part of the bridge. He described it as an act of terrorism.
Why it mattered
Taken together, these steps meant that by 10 October 2022 the Russian leadership had completed a legislative annexation process within days and had placed responsibility for the bridge explosion on a named Ukrainian state body. That pairing set the terms of the political argument as the day began: a formal claim over Ukrainian territory on one side, and an accusation of terrorism directed at Ukraine's security service on the other.
