(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – SOCHI, January 14, 2014) Standing on Sochi’s Kurortny Prospekt, the city’s main avenue, Sochi’s status as the Nice of Russia is immediately clear; it is not only the site of the upcoming Winter Olympics, but also a place for national celebrities to see and be seen. It is perhaps due to this […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – moscowtimes.com – January 14, 2014) Less than a month before the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russian investigators appealed to civilians on Tuesday to be more vigilant and help avert the threat of “terrorist” attacks. Insurgents who want to create an Islamist state in the North Caucasus mountains have threatened to attack the Games, and suicide bombers killed […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Natalya Krainova – January 13, 2014) The U.S. State Department has issued a travel alert for Americans traveling to Sochi for the Winter Olympics and Paralympics as security threats continue to emerge in southern Russia, which is set to host the Games next month. Over the weekend, police defused two handmade bombs in the North […]
» Read more
SOCHI. Jan 10 (Interfax) – According to the information of the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology, the environmental situation has improved in Sochi amid the preparations for the Olympics. “Air and water in Sochi have become cleaner today than they were in December 2007,” Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak told reporters in Sochi on Friday. The data […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – NOVO-OGAREVO, January 10, 2014) Workers in Sochi are still building the city’s new power grid less than a month before the Winter Olympics get under way, the energy minister has said. Generators and other facilities are in place but the grid, with a web of 900 kilometers of power cable and 500 substations, is unlikely […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – January 9, 2014) A U.S. crisis-response firm will have five aircraft on standby during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi in the event that an emergency requires an evacuation. The private Global Rescue firm, which had announced in November that it would assist the U.S. ski and snowboard teams during the Olympics, will stand by […]
» Read more
(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Vladimir Kuznetsov – January 8, 2014) The ruble strengthened after the resumption of trading in Moscow as oil gained and investors bet next month’s Winter Olympics will support Russia’s currency. The ruble appreciated 0.4 percent to 38.4873 against Bank Rossii’s target basket of dollars and euros by 2:03 p.m. in Moscow. The yield on Russian government […]
» Read more
(Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 11 Issue: 2 – Paul Goble – Jamestown Foundation – jamestown.org – January 7, 2014) Russian officials have repeatedly complained over the last 12 months that analysts in both Russia and the West will link, appropriately or not, everything that takes place in Russia before February 2014 with the Sochi Olympiad. There may be some justification […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – January 6, 2014) Former U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney said Russia should not have been chosen to host the Olympics considering its role in global politics but the upcoming games in Sochi are likely to be as safe as any other. Romney, who led the Winter Games in Salt Lake City in 2002, told Fox […]
» Read more
(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Stephen Bierman – January 2, 2014) Russian President Vladimir Putin called for increased security across the world’s largest country after a pair of suicide bombings killed more than 30 people before the Sochi Winter Olympic Games in February. Authorities have detained more than 700 people as officers, including teams with search dogs, investigate the attacks on […]
» Read more
(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Henry Meyer and Ben Priechenfried – December 31, 2013) Two bomb attacks in southern Russia before the country hosts the Winter Olympics are raising concerns that militants active in the region will target the games to gain international attention. The main threat is attacks by Muslim separatist groups in the North Caucasus that are at war […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – December 26, 2013) With Sochi quickly becoming a focus of world attention as the finish line for preparations approaches for the Winter Games, the venue that will host the opening ceremony of Russia’s largest international event in decades has still not been officially opened for use. Fisht Olympic Stadium, which will host […]
» Read more
Ambassador Michael McFaul, U.S. Ambassador to the Russian Federation, addresses U.S.-Russian Relations, Ukraine, the Sochi Olympics, adoptions and other matters, in this video by RFE/RL’s Russian Service. McFaul is interviewed in Russian, with English subtitles. The video was dated December 17, 2013.
» Read more
(RFE/RL – rferl.org – December 17, 2013) U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul has spoken of the current state of bilateral relations, the upcoming Sochi Olympics, and the ongoing crisis in Ukraine in a wide-ranging, exclusive interview with RFE/RL’s Russian Service. McFaul, speaking at RFE/RL’s Moscow Bureau, quashed rumors of a possible U.S. boycott of the Winter Olympics. He confirmed […]
» Read more
MOSCOW, December 18 (RIA Novosti) US President Barack Obama dealt a sharp reprimand to Russia over its anti-gay laws on Tuesday by including two openly homosexual athletes in the official delegation to the Winter Olympics in Sochi and declining to attend the Games himself. The White House announced that Billie Jean King, a gay former tennis champion, and Caitlin […]
» Read more
(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, December 16, 2013) Whenever something bad happens in Russia, the last refuge of pro-regime commentators is to suggest that the ruler isn’t in charge and that underlings are to blame: the man in the Kremlin can thus continue to be given credit for anything good that happens but not be held responsible […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anna Dolgov – November 25, 2013) A documentary about extortion and threats surrounding the construction of the Sochi Olympic Village is slated to premiere in Moscow next month, despite what its producer said were attempts to bribe her into canceling a screening at a European film festival this week. The film, titled “Putin’s Games,” features […]
» Read more
(Interfax – Sochi, November 8, 2013) The Russian Olympic Committee thinks the scandal around the sportsmen of non-traditional sexual orientation is artificially whipped up, while the athletes themselves will be taken up with a competition, not political issues. “I think that is just the whipping up of the atmosphere around the Olympics on purpose; when the Games start, the athletes […]
» Read more
(opendemocracy.net – Mark Galeotti – October 29, 2013) Mark Galeotti is Professor of Global Affairs at New York University’s SCPS Center for Global Affairs. He blogs on Russian security affairs at In Moscow’s Shadows and tweets as @MarkGaleotti. His most recent book is Russian Security and Paramilitary Forces since 1991 (Osprey, 2013) Russia is devoting considerable effort to trying to […]
» Read more
(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – October 29, 2013 – Jake Rudnitsky) One hundred days before the start of the most expensive Winter Olympics, President Vladimir Putin’s $48 billion vision of a newly empowered Russia rests in the hands and shovels of laborers working around the clock. Construction continues on the main stadium, hotels and athlete housing for the Feb. 7-23 Winter […]
» Read more
(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Ilya Arkhipov and Henry Meyer – October 25, 2013) President Vladimir Putin is turning to Barack Obama for help protecting the costliest Winter Games ever from attacks by Islamic extremists, including hundreds of battle-hardened jihadists now fighting in Syria. About 400 Russian nationals, mainly from the North Caucasus, are currently battling President Bashar al-Assad’s forces in […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – October 11, 2013) At first, Sochi’s Fisht Olympic Stadium was meant to resemble a giant snowflake, a symbol of cold weather to balance out the city’s palm trees and beaches for the Winter Games. Then, the design morphed into two parallel mounds of snow, opened down the middle to present views of […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – September 26, 2013) A state of emergency has been declared in Sochi as water and mudslides have blocked the Olympic resort’s newly built main roads, just as International Olympic Committee inspectors arrived for their final assessment ahead of the upcoming Winter Olympic Games. Many local residents could not travel to work Wednesday […]
» Read more
(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – James Ellingworth, special to RBTH – September 12, 2013) The Sochi Olympics are a “prestige project” and a symbol of “Russia’s rise” those are the alliterative buzz-phrases you’ll find in articles everywhere. But what does this Olympic prestige mean for Russians? The most obvious cultural link is to the 1980 Moscow Olympics, […]
» Read more
(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, September 12, 2013) The United States will not boycott the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Russia in light of the recently adopted Russian legislation banning the promotion of non-traditional sexual relationships toward minors, the US ambassador said Wednesday. US athletes should not fall victim to politics, Ambassador Michael McFaul told the Dozhd TV channel as Russia […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Lena Smirnova – August 26, 2013) Public protests in heightened security zones in Sochi will be prohibited during the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games next year, according to a presidential order published Friday. Some activists have denounced the order as unconstitutional, though Human Rights Watch representatives said that protests might still be possible since the […]
» Read more
(Interfax – August 7, 2013) Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitriy Kozak has said that there can be no infringement of the rights of people of nontraditional sexual orientation during the Sochi Winter Olympics, privately-owned Russian news agency Interfax reported on 7 August. “There will be no infringement of (the rights of) persons on the grounds of sexual orientation during the […]
» Read more
(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Tom Balmforth – MOSCOW – July 29, 2013) Western lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) activists are ratcheting up the pressure on Russia over laws outlawing “gay propaganda.” Among the tactics: an online campaign to “dump Russian vodka” calls for a boycott of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, while another campaign urges a visa ban […]
» Read more
(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Sergei Markedonov, special to RBTH – July 13, 2013 – Sergei Markedonov is a visiting Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington D.C.) In February 2014, the famous Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi takes on the XXII Winter Olympic Games. For Russia, the forthcoming games will be not […]
» Read more
(RIA Novosti – LOUGH ERNE, June 19, 2013) The next G8 summit will take place in the southern Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi in June 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Tuesday. “The Group of Eight summit I have invited my counterparts to will be held on June 4-5, 2014, in Sochi,” Putin told journalists after a G8 summit […]
» Read more
(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Pavel Koshkin, RBTH – June 3, 2013) U.S. congressmen and the Russian Federal Security Services hope to boost joint collaboration against global jihad and Islamism in time for the Sochi Winter Olympics. During a recent visit to Russia by U.S. congressmen, Moscow and Washington seemed to find an agreement over the need for […]
» Read more
(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Daria Tikhonova, special to RBTH – May 28, 2013) The 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games are set to become the most expensive Olympics ever. Russia will have spent more than $51 billion on the Olympics by 2014. By comparison, China spent $45 billion on the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, and the UK invested […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – May 27, 2013) After the Boston bombings last month and ahead of the Winter Olympics in Sochi next February, U.S. authorities are expanding their work with the Interior Ministry by granting the Russians access to some FBI information. The development, which came during a visit by Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev to the […]
» Read more
(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Mark Galeotti, special to RBTH – May 27, 2013) New York University’s Professor of Global Affairs Mark Galeotti reflects on the long-term consequences of the recent spy scandal and whether it will affect U.S.-Russia cooperation on security during the 2014 Olympics. The Moscow spy case, with its cheap wigs, compasses and cash, initially […]
» Read more
(RIA Novosti – TBILISI, May 2, 2013) Georgia will not boycott next year’s Winter Olympics in the Russian city of Sochi after the country’s National Olympic Committee voted unanimously Thursday in favor of taking part. The question of a boycott has repeatedly arisen in Georgia as a result of the 2008 war with host national Russia. The two countries still […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Irina Filatova – April 30, 2013) SOCHI The problems on Ruslan Zokhidov’s mind are not typical for a young man of his age: he is the least likely person to be found nattily dressed at a trendy night club or entering a university lugging a pile of books. Instead, Zokhidov, 19, lugs building materials […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – April 29, 2013) With the end of ice hockey championships, Sochi 2014 organizer Dmitry Chernyshenko has declared that the dress rehearsal for the Olympics is a success. Test events held in the framework of the 2014 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games ended with the final game of the International Ice Hockey World Championships in Sochi […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – April 11, 2013) The number 303 stood Wednesday on a digital clock on Manezh Square that counts down the days to the 2014 Sochi Olympics, and President Vladimir Putin is watching it closely as the government races to make the final preparations for the Games. But that clock may be counting down […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Irina Filatova – February 8, 2013) The countrywide celebrations marking the one-year countdown to the start of the Winter Olympics in Sochi were overshadowed Thursday by a high-profile dismissal at the Russian Olympic Committee. During a two-day inspection of Olympic construction sites, President Vladimir Putin fired the committee’s deputy president, Akhmed Bilalov, because of skyrocketing […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Nikolaus von Twickel – February 7, 2013) One year before the Winter Olympics are to kick off, it looks like Sochi 2014 is getting mired in controversy. While the country’s leaders have made it clear that the Olympics are a matter of national pride and prestige, national and international media attention is increasingly focused on […]
» Read more
(Interfax – February 6, 2013) A senior Russian government minister has dismissed allegations that migrant workers involved in preparations for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi are being cheated out of wages and denied adequate rest, food and housing, the privately-owned Russian news agency Interfax reported on 6 February. With almost exactly a year to go until the Games, Dmitriy […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Irina Filatova – February 7, 2013) [Chart here http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/sochi-scorecard-lots-of-progress-but-lots-to-be-done/475172.html] An inflatable 8-meter brown bear floating off into the Moscow sunset followed by applause from the stands during the closing ceremony of the 1980 Summer Olympics is perhaps one of the most colorful moments in the country’s sports history. It took Russia 30 years to win […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – moscowtimes.com – Nikolaus von Twickel and Irina Filatova – Februry 4, 2013) One year before they kick off, the Sochi Winter Olympics have already bagged a world record. They will go down as the most expensive games in history. The cost will top 1.5 trillion rubles ($50 billion) in state and private investment, and three-quarters of that […]
» Read more