‘ Ring of steel’ set for Sochi region
More than 30,000 police, soldiers involved; Putin drops blanket ban on protests at Winter Games
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin has backed out of a blanket ban on protests at next month’s Winter Olympics, just days before Russian security forces are to bring down a “ring of steel” around the Black Sea resort hosting the Games.
More than 30,000 police and soldiers, backed by antiaircraft missiles, warships and military aircraft are being deployed to Sochi, in southern Russia, amid fears terrorists who killed 34 people in suicide bombings in Volgograd last week will seek to strike what will be the most expensive Games in Olympic history.
A massive security operation — the biggest at any Olympics — is due to begin on Tuesday, a month before the opening ceremony on Feb. 7, but Putin issued a decree Saturday scrapping a controversial ban on protests that was due to be introduced this weekend.
The announcement was made after Putin arrived in Sochi on Friday to begin a final round of inspections of Olympic facilities and infrastructure.
He was joined by Dmitry Medvedev, the prime minister and one- time president, to ski several runs at the Gazprom-built Laura ski resort and biathlon venue on Friday, before continuing his visit to the coastal stadiums.
Putin’s arrival in the city coincided with a bomb scare, with police evacuating a shopping centre in Sochi following a warning. Police later said no device had been found. But the incident highlighted how high tensions are running in the city.
Russia has spared no expense on Sochi Games, plowing an estimated $ 51 billion US into the organization and construction effort.
But Putin has invested much more than money in the project. Having personally overseen the Olympic effort since he led Russia’s winning bid in 2007, the event is seen in Russia and abroad as his pet project.
And like any protective parent, the Russian government is also making sure that the Olympics will also be most secure.
A decree signed by Putin in August establishes two security zones, one “controlled,” where visitors and vehicles will be subject to thorough security and document checks, and one entirely closed “forbidden” zone stretching from the border with Abkhazia and across a large part of the mountainous Sochi national park. To access the “controlled zone,” which stretches roughly 100 kilometres along the coast and 40 kilometres inland, spectators will have to go through police checkpoints where their baggage and vehicles will be X- rayed.
This “ring of steel” will begin to fall into place on Tuesday, when Russia’s Federal Security Service, which has overall responsibility for Olympic security, will close the entire Sochi municipality and seaboard to any vehicle without a local registration number or special accreditation.
Meanwhile, hunting shops and wholesalers will have to suspend sales of weapons, ammunition or explosives ( and certain industrial and agricultural supplies).
But what no one can know is whether all this will be enough to prevent a repeat of the terrorist attacks that Russia’s most wanted insurgent leader has called for. Doku Umarov, a veteran Chechen rebel released a video message in July cancelling a moratorium on attacking Russian civilians and calling on his followers to use “maximum force” to disrupt the Games.