MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s interior minister says that 37,000 police officers have been deployed to protect the 2014 Winter Games in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
Vladimir Kolokoltsev said on state Rossiya 24 television Friday a multi-layer security system in Sochi is fully compatible with demands of the International Olympic Committee, saying it has proven its efficiency in test events there.
While officials have pledged to make the Sochi Games the “safest Olympics in history,” security experts warn the Islamist insurgency that has spread across Russia’s North Caucasus after two separatist wars in Chechnya poses daunting threats to President Vladimir Putin’s pet project.
Earlier this week, a top Chechen rebel warlord called on militants to disrupt the Sochi Games, which he described as “satanic dances on the bones of our ancestors.”
