MOSCOW, October 25. /TASS/. Russia’s National Guard, also known as Rosgvardiya, will set up a maritime brigade to ensure security of the Crimean bridge, its director Viktor Zolotov said on Wednesday.

"For solving the tasks before Rosgvardiya on ensuring security of the bridge passage through the Kerch Strait in the Southern District of forces under creation we will have a new formation, the maritime brigade," Zolotov told the upper house of parliament, the Federation Council.

The 19-km (12-mile) Crimean bridge is being built under the federal program "Social and Economic Development of The Crimean Region and the City of Sevastopol by 2020" with budget financing only. It will be open to automobile crossings in December 2018 and rail traffic in December 2019.