Despite suicide attacks, IOC chief says Russia will deliver safe Sochi Games

Zee Media Bureau Moscow: Reiterating his confidence in Russian authorities, International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach said on Wednesday condemned the two suicide attacks in Volgograd, saying terrorism "must never triumph". Despite the two suicide attacks that raised alarm just weeks ahead of the crucial Winter Olympics, the IOC President Thomas Bach in his New Year message said that he had full belief that Russia will deliver safe and secure Sochi Games. Condemning the attacks that killed 34, as "cowardly terrorist attacks", Bach said that terrorism must never win. “Sochi Games "should be a demonstration of unity in diversity and of remarkable athletic achievements - not a platform for politics or division," he said. Earlier on Tuesday, Bach had written to Russia`s Putin expressing “confidence in the Russian authorities to deliver safe and secure Games in Sochi."   “I am certain that everything will be done to ensure the security of the athletes and all the participants of the Olympic Games,” he said. 

The two suicide attacks – one at the Volgograd Railway Station and another in a trolleybus in the same city – have raised serious concerns regarding the safety of Sochi Games. Volgograd, which is located just 700 kms from Sochi, is a major transport hub and is situated near the troubled region of North Caucasus. In wake of the Games that are to begin from Feb 7, Putin has ordered some extensive security measures to be put in place. Over 5200 troops are deployed in Volgograd and security has been beefed up across all railway stations and airport. The attacks are seen as the manifestation of the threat delivered by a Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov, who in July this year had condemned Russia for hosting Sochi Games, which he called as a “Satanic Dance”.    He had vowed to stop the Games from proceeding in Sochi, pledging attacks against civilian targets.       He instructed his followers “to use maximum force on the path of Allah to disrupt this Satanic dancing.”      "They plan to hold the Olympics on the bones of our ancestors, on the bones of many, many dead Muslims, buried on the territory of our land on the Black Sea," Umarov had said in a video.