With the opening ceremony now almost exactly 48 hours away, officials and construction workers in Sochi are now desperately hurrying to bring the Olympic facilities on line. Journalists, who have flooded Sochi in the last day so, have been met with clear evidence of this chaotic bolt for completion. Our liveblog continues here. 0004 […]
Tag: Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics
Sochi-2014: The Reverse Side of the Medal
As Friday’s opening ceremony draws near, the Institute of Modern Russia, of which The Interpreter is a special project, has launched a comprehensive and interactive website detailing the myriad cases of corruption and controversies surrounding the Olympic Games in Sochi. The website, available in both English and Russian, presents “exclusive information on 26 Olympic-related objects, including […]
“At the Sochi Olympics There Will Be a Lot of Gays”
This week, the mayor of the city where the 2014 Winter Olympics will be held, Anatoly Pakhomov said that there were no gays in Sochi. However, Nikolai Alekseev, the head of Moscow’s gay pride movement, begs to differ. — Ed. The founder of Moscow Gay Pride movement Nikolai Alekseev commented on Kommersant FM on the […]
Navalny Presents Sochi Corruption Map
Alexei Navalny has launched an interactive website displaying the results of his investigations into corruption in the construction projects for the Sochi Winter Olympics. The report was translated by The Interpreter, and an analysis of the report has been written by our editor-in-chief, Michael Weiss. Below is an article published in Lenta.ru, a liberal Russian […]
Latvia Will Miss the Paralympic Games in Sochi Due to Lack of Funds
RIGA, January 15. The Latvian national team will not take part in the Winter Paralympic games in Sochi because of insufficient funding from the state. This was reported to the media by the president of the national paralympic committee, Daiga Dadzīte. “There is not money,” said Dadzīte in an interview with radio Baltkom, speaking of […]
Twenty-Five Questions for Putin
In December, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a very long press conference. However, many organizations were not allowed to attend, and the kind of hard-hitting questions we’d expect if there were freedom of the press in Russia were not asked. Three days before the event, The New Times published this brave piece of journalism – […]
Volgograd and the Caucasus Emirate
The recent bombings in Volgograd and a car bomb in Pyatigorsk (3 dead) have captured the attention of the international community, not only because of the horrific nature of the attacks but because they have taken place in cities outside the Caucasus republics that are normally the scene of such attacks, and due to the […]
Volgograd Bombings – Live Updates
At least 32 people have been killed in two bombings over the space of less than 24 hours in the southern Russian city of Volgograd. Updates are below. Click here to jump to a summary. UPDATES: 1726 GMT: A total of 34 people have now died in due to the two bombings in Volgograd. ITAR-TASS […]
Sochi Activists Declared Prone to Extremism
This article was published prior to two deadly suicide bombings this week in the city of Volgograd (see The Interpreter‘s live-blog for more details). It explains the Russian authorities’ latest approach to preempting terrorism in Sochi during the upcoming Winter Olympics: by making even environmental activists engaged in alleged “extremist activities” register with local police […]
Olympic Investors Trying to Avoid Default
The Sochi Winter Olympics have been plagued by corruption, which is helping to drive the price of the game up. An investigation led by Boris Nemtsov found that the Olympic price tag could top $50 billion, though there are likely many more hidden costs like security. In comparison, the total cost of the Winter Olympics […]