ATHENS, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Ensuring security at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi is up to Russian organisers, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Thursday amid concerns from the Games hosts’ Georgian neighbours.
Earlier this week Georgia had asked the IOC for the 2014 Games to be moved from Russia’s Sochi for security reasons following a brief war between the two countries.
Sochi, a popular Russian Black Sea resort, lies only about 50 kilometres from the Georgian border.
“Security is a top priority for the IOC and organisers at every Olympic Games,” IOC spokeswoman Emmanuelle Moreau said.
“Security arrangements fall under the responsibility of the local authorities of the host cities which ensure that everything that is humanly possible is done to protect the athletes, the spectators and all people involved in the staging of the Games,” she said.
The IOC had received a letter from the Georgian Olympic Committee days ago on the matter.
Russian troops poured into Georgia in August and pushed government troops back after they tried to retake the pro-Moscow rebel region of South Ossetia.
Russia and Georgia have accused each other of starting the five-day war in which Russian forces took control of large swathes of Georgian territory for some time.
Sochi, the first Russian city to be awarded the winter edition of the Olympics, was picked last year over Austria’s Salzburg and South Korea’s Pyeongchang.
With the majority of venues still needed to be built from scratch there have also been concerns about the credit crunch’s impact on preparations.
Russia has pledged to spend $12 billion on developing the wider Sochi area for the Games.
(Editing by Miles Evans)
