VLADIVOSTOK, September 2. /TASS/. The US sanctions against the builders of the Kerch Strait Bridge will not affect the construction of the facility, Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov told TASS in an interview at the Eastern Economic Forum on Friday.

"I want to underline that this will neither affect the terms of the project’s implementation nor the order or amount of financing, nor the materials used nor their supplies as these technologies and materials are ‘import-replacing’ and their major part is manufactured on the territory of this country," Sokolov said.

The US government on Thursday extended the list of Russian individuals and legal entities subject to unilateral US economic sanctions over relation to the conflict in Ukraine. The sanctions were slapped on the companies linked to the construction of the Kerch Strait Bridge, including the project designer Gidrostroymost, the general contractor SGM-most, the ordering customer Uprdor Taman of the Federal Road Agency and one of contactors Mostotrest.

The Kerch Strait Bridge is expected to open in December 2018 and connect Crimea’s Kerch to mainland Russia. The multi-billion dollar construction is fully financed from the Russian federal budget as part of the program titled "The Social and Economic Development of the Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol through to 2020."

No need to overestimate aftermath of anti-Russia sanctions

According to the Kremlin spokesman, consequences of western sanctions should not be overestimated and plans for the development of the country’s economy and major investment projects remain in force.

"We are undoubtedly facing negative consequences of the sanctions but their volume should not be overestimated," Peskov told reporters. "You know that despite certain difficulties, plans for the economic development and implementation of major projects remain in force."