Interfax: Putin’s spokesman downplays Sochi problems

File Photo of Sochi Olympics Banner Near Highway in Warm Weather with Vehicle and Cyclicsts Nearby

(Interfax – Moscow, February 5, 2014) The Russian president’s press secretary Dmitriy Peskov has said everything is ready for the Olympic Games and made an appeal not to exaggerate problems in Sochi.

“I’m not in favour of making problems that accompany any event of this scale, any Olympic Games, look like they can affect the entire process,” Peskov said, speaking live on radio station Kommersant FM on Wednesday [5 February].

Peskov recalled that on Wednesday Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the Olympic Village. “I can say that today everything is absolutely ready and there is a glimmer of Olympic life there, not just a glimmer but it is in full swing. This is a huge infrastructure… The scale of the work is striking. Although there was criticism, there were reproaches to subcontractors who delayed the commissioning of facilities, the amount of work simply unimaginable,” Peskov said.

Responding to complaints on the internet by foreign journalists about the! quality of the hotels and water, and commenting on a CNN report on homeless dogs in Sochi, Peskov admitted that some problems existed.

“There are indeed stray dogs in Sochi. It is true that there are more stray dogs there than in other towns. The explanation is quite simple: when there is a large construction project, dogs and puppies always appear because builders feed them. Now that the workers are gone, unfortunately the dogs stayed,” the president’s spokesman said.

“This is a real problem. I would not exaggerate its importance. It exists, and I know that the organizers are trying to address this problem,” he added.

Speaking about the hotels, Peskov admitted that probably not all hotels had “perfect management”. He said he hoped that in the coming days “everything will be much better”.

He urged to remember other Olympic Games, at each of which journalists and participants had been unhappy about something.

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