Russia has tasked a loss-making company with building a $91 million car bridge across the Tumen River to North Korea, Moscow announced, amid signs that construction on the new transport link between the two countries has already begun. 

The Sochi-based TonnelYuzhStroi company must design the bridge and finish its construction by Dec. 31, 2026 at the latest, according to a government decree signed by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on Feb. 1.

The construction company can hire subcontractors but is required to carry out at least 60% of the project independently, the directive states.

Moscow previously included the Tumen bridge project in its 2024-2028 road reconstruction plan. A separate decree states that the road crossing will be 4.7 km (2.92 miles) long with the Russian government financing its some $90.9 million projected cost. 

The cost and scale of the bridge are a fraction of the $3.7 billion Russia spent on the controversial 19-km (11.8 miles) Crimea Bridge, which opened in 2018, four years after Russia annexed the peninsula from Ukraine.

TonnelYuzhStroi, founded in Sochi in 2014, had only four employees as of 2023 — the same year it recorded more than half a million dollars in losses, according to official tax data. Little else is known about the company, as it has no website, and it is unclear what other large-scale projects the firm worked on in the past.

Corporate records show it is owned by a man named Yevgeny Biryukov and managed by Sergey Sobolev, who serves as its CEO.

NK News analysis of satellite imagery shows signs of expanded activity on the Russian side of the ice-covered river between Jan. 31 and Feb. 3 in addition to the tree clearing along the bank and the construction of a dirt road cutting through the trees to connect with a road leading to the nearby town of Khasan.

Khasan is also home to a train station that is linked with North Korea’s Tumangang Station via a rail bridge. Russia resumed its passenger train service with North Korea last December after a five-year pause caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The apparent start of the construction follows the signing of a bridge construction agreement by  Russian and DPRK leaders Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang last June.

Despite a series of working-level discussions, plans for the project had previously failed to gain any traction, with the momentum petering out by 2020 when North Korea sealed off its borders. 

However, NK Pro analyses showed both North Korea and Russia started preparatory works for the construction of the bridge in November and December, respectively.

Shortly after the Putin-Kim summit, former senior Russian diplomat Georgy Toloraya expressed skepticism about the motorway bridge’s utility due to low cargo volumes, although noted it could be profitable long-term while also holding a symbolic value.

Russia and North Korea have forged closer bilateral ties since mid-2023, primarily focusing their cooperation on the military domain, resulting in the transfers of DPRK munitions, missiles, artillery and troops to aid Moscow’s war effort against Ukraine.

The two sides have also boosted humanitarian contacts across the board, including in agriculture and education, with delegations from Kim Il Sung University and Kim Chaek University recently visiting Russia.

Edited by Alannah Hill