RUSSIA SENTENCES 8 PEOPLE TO LIFE IMPRISONMENT

A court in Russia on Thursday convicted eight people on terrorism charges over an attack on a bridge linking Russia to Moscow-annexed Crimea that is a key supply route for Kremlin forces in the war with Ukraine.

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A court in Russia convicted eight people on terrorism charges over an attack on a bridge linking Russia to Moscow-annexed Crimea.

The court sentenced all of the defendants to life in prison.

The October 2022 attack on the bridge came when a truck bomb blew up two of its sections and required months of repairs. The blast killed the truck driver and four other people in a car nearby. Moscow decried the attack as an act of terrorism and retaliated by bombarding Ukraine's civilian infrastructure, targeting the country's power grid over the winter.

The Ukrainian Security Service, known as the SBU, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Eight people including Russian, Ukrainian and Armenian citizens were arrested. Five others, including three Ukrainian and two Georgian nationals, were charged in absentia.

Artyom and Georgy Azatyan, Oleg Antipov, Alexander Bylin, Vladimir Zloba, Dmitry Tyazhelykkh, Roman Solomko and Artur Terchanyan were charged with carrying outa terrorist attack and illegal arms traf ficking. Solomkoand Terchanyan also were accused of smuggling explosives.