The End of Sochi’s Security High?
By Associated Press | February 18, 2014
Last Updated: February 18, 2014 6:33 am
For all the warnings that security in Sochi would be invasive and aggressive, it’s appearing more and more uneven, and in places almost relaxed.
No attacks have been reported since the Olympics started Feb. 7, and the world’s attention has turned to skiing and skating instead of security measures. Organizers insist security overall remains tight.
But risks remain. Just a few hundred miles away, a long-running insurgency goes on, and Islamic militants stage regular attacks elsewhere in the Caucasus Mountains region hosting Olympic ski races. Russia has deployed tens of thousands of forces across the Sochi region and U.S. authorities sent two warships to the Black Sea.
International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach suggests security measures at Olympic venues themselves are less invasive because authorities sealed off the larger region so tightly.
“The parameters of security are far from the main venues,” he said. “The security forces are acting in an extremely friendly way so the Olympic atmosphere is not harmed at all.”
Sometimes security measures are designed to be inconsistent, so that potential evildoers can’t figure out the system. But the attitude of the ubiquitous guards seems increasingly laid back—some are flipping through their phones or listening to music while manning their posts—instead of calculated to thwart enemies.
One Sochi Games security feature never wavers, however, no matter the location: Olympic personnel, media members, and even spectators themselves are all required to have special passes that are scanned upon arrival and departure from Olympic sites. That way, security teams can ensure that no one stays behind at any venue.
Russian security services wouldn’t comment on lax security measures. But a string of arrests shows that they’re keeping an eye on those who might disrupt events or want to call attention to abuses by Russian authorities.
Sochi organizing committee spokeswoman Alexandra Kosterina has shrugged off questions about inconsistent or confusing security measures. “We ensure and our authorities ensure that Sochi is secure,” she said. “It is not an issue for us.”
The only incident so far has been a Ukrainian man’s unsuccessful effort to hijack a Turkish plane the night of the opening ceremony.
But the underlying danger that worried athletes and spectators before the games remains.
Weeks before the Olympics, suicide bombers killed 34 people in two bombings in the city of Volgograd. An insurgency has been simmering across the Caucasus Mountains region for two decades. Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov called on followers to attack the games.
Security experts warn that attackers could choose soft targets away from the Olympic sites such as shopping centers. Some have raised the possibility that jihadists could have infiltrated Sochi long before security was tightened.
Ahead of the games, guards at security stations around Olympic Park and in the nearby mountains carefully checked every bag, car, and body. Some visitors with food were forced to eat it before passing through the gates.
In recent days, however, visitors have made it through metal detectors with coins, keys, watches, belts, and credit cards. The metal detector at one well-visited hotel on the Sochi shore doesn’t appear to be used at all—and when a visitor offered to have her bag checked, she was waved past.
Some guards—seemingly more stringent in mountain venues than by the coast—are still inspecting every item, down to the smallest lip balm or a Valentine’s Day balloon, scanned for explosives. But others have let through backpacks containing a pocketknife, water bottles, fruit, and shampoo.
At some checkpoints, officers scan beneath buses with special long mirrors to check for explosives. Those checks have become irregular.
Labels: Olympic Games, Russia, Security
posted by Pieface | 9:39 AM
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