Sochi Organizing Committee President Says 2014 Winter Olympics Will Be Safe

Sochi Organizing Committee President Dmitry Chernyshenko said that Russian authorities "are working intensively with Games officials to ensure a high level of security," according to the MOSCOW TIMES. Concern over security at the Olympics in Sochi next February "has been high, as the city is in the vicinity of restive Russian regions, including Chechnya and Dagestan." The suspects in this year's Boston Marathon bombings "were ethnic Chechens, and one of them last year visited Dagestan, where authorities are investigating if he had contact with Islamic militants." Chernyshenko said, "This season, our security tested all necessary projects to reach the goal," and "the state is providing outstanding efforts to guarantee that [the Olympics] will be safe and quiet" (MOSCOW TIMES, 5/29).