January 7:
The Russian government has imposed a preemptive security clampdown in Sochi ahead of next month’s winter Olympics there, the Voice of America reports. An additional 30,000 police and interior ministry troops have been deployed to the resort town to reinforce the thousands of troops already stationed there. Additionally, heavy restrictions on mobility have also been put in place, with only vehicles registered in the city or accredited for the Games allowed into Sochi. The movement of individuals is also being tightly controlled, with visitors to the town forced to officially register or face expulsion and a number of high security zones being established in which only accredited individuals are permitted. One disgruntled observer has commented that, as a result of these steps, the town “is turning into a sort of concentration camp.”
The Kremlin has deployed 50,000 police, intelligence officers and soldiers,” reports Hamburg’s Der Spiegel in an expose of Russia’s Olympic security. “Submarines patrol the Black Sea coast, drones monitor the Olympic host city from the air. Modern S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems have been put in place, capable of shooting hijacked aircraft out of the sky in an emergency.” These unprecedented precautions, the German newsweekly notes, are needed to protect against “a vast network of extremists” in the nearby North Caucasus regions of Russia. “The Interior Ministry in Moscow estimates there are some 600 underground fighters in the region, organized in some 40 gangs spread throughout the territory of the North Caucasus,” according to Der Spiegel.
January 9:
After weeks of obstructionism, the Russian government appears to have acquiesced to an active role for U.S. law enforcement at the upcoming Sochi Games. The Washington Times reports that the FBI is dispatching “dozens” of agents to Russia ahead of the Winter Olympics there next month. Based upon an arrangement which appears to have been hammered out between the Bureau and its Russian counterpart, the MVD, some two dozen FBI personnel will be stationed in the Russian capital, Moscow, with another dozen or so providing on-site support to Russian security services in Sochi.
January 10:
In tandem with its $15 billion bailout of Ukraine’s beleaguered economy, the Kremlin is poised to become a major stakeholder in the country’s nuclear industry. Ukraine’s Radio 1 reports that Kyiv is expecting a major infusion of Russian capital in the form of bank loans for the development of its nuclear sector. The anticipated investments – which Ukrainian officials estimate will total $6 billion – track with the Yanukovych government’s attempts to ramp up both foreign direct investment into and nuclear development in the country.
Russian president Vladimir Putin’s public opposition of gay relationships has just gotten a boost from a powerful political ally. According to London’s Daily Mail, the Russian Orthodox Church has called for a national referendum on outlawing homosexual unions. “There is no question that society should discuss this issue since we live in a democracy,” Vsevolod Chaplin, a spokesman for the Church, has said. “For this reason, it is precisely the majority of our people and not some outside powers that should decide what should be a criminal offence and what should not.” The move, coming less than a month before the start of the Sochi Games, is certain to stir controversy – particularly because Putin, despite his prior statements, has promised that homosexual “athletes, fans and guests [will] feel comfortable at the Olympic Games.”
January 11:
Russia has taken the first steps toward establishing an air base on the territory of ally and former satellite Belarus, reports Joshua Kucera for eurasianet.org. In December, Russia deployed four Su-27 fighter jets, complete with support personnel, to the Baranovichi air base, situated near Belarus’ borders with Poland and Lithuania. The deployment, analysts say, is the first step in stationing an aircraft regiment on Belarusian soil – an arrangement established in response to NATO activity and one that is currently being hammered out between Moscow and Minsk.
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