Why Russia's Underwater Tunnel to Crimea Won't Solve Putin's Problems

Russia has reportedly held secret talks with Chinese business executives to build an underwater tunnel connecting annexed Crimea to Russia, but such a structure is unlikely to solve Vladimir Putin's problems.

The Washington Post reported Friday that Ukraine's security services intercepted talks between Russia and China in October about building the structure due to the vulnerability of the Kerch Strait Bridge. But a retired lieutenant general told Newsweek an underwater tunnel would be vulnerable both during construction and after completion.

The Kerch Strait bridge serves as a key supply route for Russia's forces and is Moscow's sole land link with Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula annexed by Putin in 2014.

Ukraine struck the 19-kilometer (12-mile) road and rail bridge in October 2022 and again in July this year. The bridge, which has a four-lane roadway for vehicles and a railway bridge with two tracks, is crucial to sustaining Moscow's military offensives in southern Ukraine. Satellite photos obtained by Newsweek show that the railway was damaged by Kyiv's second strike.

Britain's Defense Ministry has assessed that for that reason, it has become a significant security burden for Moscow.

Russian and Chinese business executives with government ties reportedly hope to build the tunnel to establish a transportation route that would be protected from attacks by Ukraine.

The underwater tunnel "would be vulnerable...throughout the construction process as well as after completion," retired Lieutenant General Ben Hodges told Newsweek.

Hodges said it wouldn't be easy for Russia to build the structure.

"There are real engineering challenges associated with this idea of a tunnel...the bottom of the Black/Azov Sea there in that area is not ideal for even the Kerch bridge so seismic activity would be a real problem for the tunnel as well," said Hodges.

Keir Giles, a senior consulting fellow of the Russia and Eurasia program at the Chatham House think tank in London, U.K., told Newsweek that an underwater tunnel would still pose a problem for Russia.

"If it is actually built, it will be a more secure means for movement to and from the occupied peninsula—but still a chokepoint and a single point of failure, and for as long as hostilities continue, anybody transiting this notional tunnel should feel exceptionally nervous," said Giles.

Newsweek couldn't independently verify the report by The Washington Post. The newspaper said the messages were provided by Ukrainian officials hoping to expose the project and China's potential involvement. Newsweek has reached out to Russia's Foreign Ministry for comment via email.

Putin signalled that he wanted to build an underwater tunnel to connect Russia and Crimea in 2014 when his forces annexed the peninsula.

"We need both a road and a railway bridge there," Putin said at the time. That bridge is now the Kerch Strait Bridge.

"The option of a tunnel under the Kerch Strait will also be considered," then-transport minister Maxim Sokolov said, without elaborating.

The Washington D.C.-based Institute for the Study of War assessed in August that Ukraine's strikes on infrastructure linking Crimea to southern Ukraine and to mainland Russia are impacting Moscow's ability to move resources. The think tank said this was also hampering the Kremlin's efforts to fend off Kyiv's ongoing counteroffensive to reclaim Ukrainian territory.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has pledged to recapture Crimea.

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