But when he boasted of his military’s Monday morning assault, Putin sought to frame the attacks as revenge for the blast that damaged his signature bridge connecting Russia with the annexed Crimean Peninsula. “This was the first attack on critical Russian infrastructure,” Frank Ledwidge, senior lecturer of law and strategy at University of Portsmouth, told NBC News. which was directed by her husband, a sign of the prominence Kremlin allies sought to give the bridge in Russian popular culture. Simonyan was one of many hawkish voices who expressed fury in the wake of the bridge blast and delight at Monday's apparent retaliation. While it was unclear whether the bridge blast and Monday’s assault were tied, what was clear is the value of the bridge to both sides.

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