Putin basks in the spotlight
Russian media avoid Olympic controversy
It was clear something big was up. A horde of nervous, overdressed men with bulging coats and ear pieces all seemed to be talking at the same time into their wrists. Wading into the traffic, they blocked the road and told our taxi driver to get lost. Fast.
Hundreds more cops, some in uniforms and some in plain clothes, swarmed around the Sochi media centre, which sits in front of the grand boardwalk that overlooks Sochi harbour. The security check to enter the building was even more unpleasant than usual. Inside the centre, which in recent days had been almost deserted, there was a fantastic buzz of anticipation.
A moment later, the greatest superstar of the Sochi Olympics entered the hall: Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.
As the throng stepped aside, the Russian president quietly surveyed the vast room. He saw walls of computers, a handful of journalists — and a huge numbers of hangers-on who’d materialized from nowhere to stand in silent wonder before the man who most Russians believe has helped their country regain international respect by hosting the Sochi Winter Games.
As might be expected of a martial arts specialist and hockey fanatic, Putin was so fit he was almost bursting out of his well-tailored suit. The diminutive former spy stood only a few metres away as he was briefed by Olga Nikolevna, who runs the media centre.
Then, to the astonishment of everyone, Putin agreed to do a scrum with Russian journalists. What followed was a ferocious battle for a good spot, as a phalanx of tough security types used considerable force to try to keep the hacks and hangers-on at bay.
The reason for Putin’s visit was a televised meeting in another room with municipal officials who were perhaps in even greater awe of the president than those gathered in the media centre.
This was definitely not an audience that was going to ask tricky questions about corruption in the Olympic construction program or about gay and lesbian rights. As Putin smiled benignly, the local worthies lobbed softball questions at him for half an hour, praising him to the sky for how he had transformed their city from a backwater.
An Orthodox priest told Putin that religious freedom was practised in Sochi.
In response to a question about the highly controversial effect that the Sochi Olympics have had on the region’s ecology, Putin said the Mzymta River, which runs beside the skiing and bobsled venues of Krasnaya Polyana, was actually cleaner than it was before any of the roads, tunnels, ski runs and hotels had been cut into the mountains.
Again and again, the dignitaries from Sochi thanked Putin for everything he had done for them.
As Putin bade the media centre goodbye, the reverential crowd stood 10 deep at the window as the man with the characteristic bowlegged gait disappeared into the night.