Post date: Apr 23, 2013 1:22:18 PM
Sochi Olympics organisers refuse to comment about possible security threats after Boston bombings, while Masha Lipman from Carnegie Moscow Centre says the Sochi Games will now be unsafe for Americans.
MOSCOW, RUSSIA (APRIL 23, 2013) (REUTERS) - The organizers the 2014 Winter Olympics to be held in the Russian city ofSochi have refused to comment about possible security threats to the Games in the wake of the Boston bombings, while a well-known Russian analyst said on Tuesday (April 23) that the site of the Winter Olympics in Russia's south could pose a threat for U.S. citizens travelling to the event.
After repeated requests for comment, the 2014 Sochi organising committee said in an email to Reuters Television that there would be no comment on their side after two ethnic Chechens with ties to Russia's North Caucasus were suspected of carrying out the Boston Marathon bombings.Sochi is situated just a few hundred kilometres from Russia's most restive North Caucasus provinces, which has always been thought to be a security risk.
"Sochi is located very close to North Caucasus within a hundred kilometers to some of the territories there. And this was a risky decision to begin with. To pickSochi of all places as the site of the Winter Olympics," Carnegie Moscow Centreexpert Maria Lipman told Reuters.
The bombings of the Boston Marathon which killed three and injured up to 234 have been blamed on two men, whose family is from Chechnya - a largely MuslimNorth Caucasus region where Russian forces are fighting Islamic militants who want to establish a Caliphate.
The region, where the Kremlin has been fighting militants since Chechnyadeclared independence from Russia after the Soviet Union collapsed, is close to the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
"Well, after the terrorist attack (Boston bombing) the security of Sochi for the Olympics is, of course, called in question. We do not know exactly whether the two brothers were just a small family, a group of terrorists or whether they were tied to some other groups in North Caucasus. This is a version that will closely be looked at - no question about that," Lipman said.
President Vladimir Putin, who has staked his popularity on bringing the Games to his favourite holiday spot, told law enforcement agencies this year to be on high alert, and some visitors say that security has been taken to extremes. Soldiers may outnumber spectators in some events, they say.
"If there are groups seeking to deal a blow on the United States in Dagestan andChechnya or anywhere, then of course it (Olympics) is unsafe for Americans. And, of course, it would be a disaster for Putin personally who cared so much about winning the opportunity for Russia to host the Winter Olympics in Sochi - to have the American government warning its citizens that it's unsafe for them to go there," Lipman said.
Dozens on both sides are killed almost daily in the North Caucasus region, and resentment has built over construction for the Olympics, which, locals say, has not benefitted them. Unemployment is still high and any money made seems to flow back to Moscow.
At a ceremony held in February of this year to celebrate the one-year countdown to the 2014 Games, Russian President Vladimir Putin travelled to Sochi to issue an invitation for Olympic guests to come to the Games.
"Once again, let me invite you all to Russia, to the twenty-second Winter Olympic Games. Every success and the best to you," Putin said.
Moscow has estimated it would spend $50 billion on its Olympics but has not detailed its security costs so far. London paid more than 1.5 billion dollars on its security measures for the 2012 Summer Olympics, which combined everything from surface-to-air missiles to airport-style scanners and naval patrols.
Some 124 people have been killed in the North Caucasus since the beginning of this year, according to website Caucasian Knot, which tracks the violence.