The News York Times published an article by Ekaterina Sokirianskaia headlined "Winter Games, Caucasian Misery."
"When, in 2007, President Vladimir V. Putin argued on behalf of Russia’s bid to hold the 2014 Games, he assured the International Olympic Committee that it would be a “safe, enjoyable and memorable experience.” The Sochi Games are his personal project and a very ambitious one — not least because the Games will take place in the immediate neighborhood of the North Caucasus, site of Europe’s deadliest ongoing conflict. For Mr. Putin, hosting the Winter Olympics in Sochi will demonstrate to the world that Russia has solved its problems in these restive republics and is back as a strong and united superpower," the article reads.
"The reality behind the public relations is far different. In August, Mr. Putin decreed a virtual state of emergency in the city. Some 40,000 police officers have been deployed, together with army units, because of concerns about a possible terrorist attack by separatists or jihadis," the author writes.
"The North Caucasus has been turbulent since the breakup of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. Chechnya, farther to the east, saw the worst of the violence, suffering two full-scale wars in which an estimated 80,000 Chechens, mostly civilians, died. At the start, it was a separatist struggle for independence, but as the conflict wore on, the nationalist cause was gradually subsumed into an Islamist one," the article reads.
"The security around Sochi may ensure a peaceful Olympics. But beyond the Games, the repression in the Caucasus will inflict irreparable damage. After Sochi, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to rebuild trust and continue the rehabilitation of insurgents — even assuming there is the political will to do so," the author concludes.
