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Monday May 21

North Caucasus and Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, by Emil Souleimanov

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 "The North Caucasus Islamist insurgency and the (in)security of the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi (2014)" (Portuguese Journal of International Affairs, No. 5, Spring/Summer 2011): 66-71. 

Emil Souleimanov
Assistant Professor at the Department of Russian and East European Studies, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic

According to a recent announcement made by the Olympic Committee of the Russian Federation, around 70.000 workers of various professional backgrounds will provide their services for the upcoming Winter Olympic Games (WOG) of 2014 in Sochi, a Northwest Caucasian seaport city with a population of 350.000 people, situated in the Russia’s southernmost Krasnodar province. Within this number, an army of 25.000 volunteers, predominantly young men and women, recruited from across Russia will be established. This and some other factors, coupled with increased activities of the Western wing of the self-proclaimed Caucasus Emirate raise concerns about the ability of Russian authorities to provide security for a major international event of this scale and scope. This article is an attempt to explain the current security situation in and around the Sochi area with an emphasis on prospective terrorist-diversionary activities of the North Caucasus Islamist insurgents.

>>Download the full-text document in PDF format (564KB)

Source: IPRIS