Moscow: The International Olympic Committee president has said that he is confident Russian authorities will deliver a `safe and secure’ Winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014 despite the two blasts that occurred in two days in the city of Volgograd. Just weeks before the crucial Sochi Games are to begin; Russia was stunned by two suicide attacks that killed a total of 33 people within a span of 48 hours, triggering a high alert in the country.
Under pressure for ensuring the security in wake of the Winter Olympics, Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the security to be stepped up, especially at all the railway stations and airports across the country. Meanwhile, the death toll in each attack increased by one, with two injured victims succumbing to death, reported a Russian news agency citing the Emergency Ministry. The toll in station attack increased to 18 and that in trolleybus attack hit 15.
.According to the Media Report, although to the threat to the Sochi Games may not be so big as there are adequate police officers and military personnel deployed around the area, it is however, widely assumed that the people who carried out the Volgograd bombings were mainly targeting the Games. However, IOC President Thomas Bach said that he is certain that the Russian government would do everything in their power to ensure the security of the athletes and all the participants of the Games, which would open on February 7.
the report said that despite intense security in Sochi, Russians are palpably nervous that following these attacks in Volgograd – which lies 700km north-east of Sochi – bombers could also strike elsewhere. He US condemned the attacks and offered its ‘full support’ to the Russian government in security preparations for the Sochi Games.
Bureau Report
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