Chechen Militants Threaten Olympic Terror
Russia has been pulling out all the stops to prevent just what Chechen extremists are threatening with just over two weeks to go until the 2104 Winter Olympics open in Sochi:
A pair of Islamist militants promised a “surprise package” for the Olympics in a frightening new video posted on a jihadi website.
The two young men, dressed in dark street clothes and holding assault rifles, were supposedly suicide bombers behind December’s deadly attack on a train station in the Russian city of Volgograd, ABC News reported.
In the video, they set their sights on the Winter Olympics due to begin in February in Sochi.
For his part, Russian President Vladimir Putin pledges the games will be free of terrorism during an interview broadcast Sunday:
“We do everything with … the clear understanding of the operational situation developing around Sochi and in the region as a whole,” Putin said in an interview recorded Friday in Sochi with a number of Russian and foreign television networks, including ABC.
“We have a perfect understanding of the scope of the threat and how to deal with it and how to prevent it. I hope that our law enforcement agencies will deal with it with honor and dignity, the way it was during other major sports and political events,” he said.
About 40,000 police and special forces officers will be enforcing security at the Games under the command of a special round-the-clock headquarters, Putin said. Also, as of Jan. 7, a special regime of people and vehicles was introduced in the area around Sochi, he said.
“Our task as organizers is to ensure the security of athletes and guests at this major sports event, and we will do our best,” the president said. “We will protect our air and sea space as well as the mountain cluster.
Putin added that the concentration of measures in and around Sochi will not undermine security in other parts of Russia.
