Olympic Games: United States stands ready to provide security assistance to Russia

Did the terror attacks in Russia encourage the United States to offer help for the upcoming Olympic Games in Russia?

Did the terror attacks in Russia encourage the United States to offer help for the upcoming Olympic Games in Russia? Washington says it would welcome ”closer cooperation” with Russia on security arrangements for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics games that are to start in February. The Pentagonโ€™s offer comes after two bombings in Russiaโ€™s south just before New Year.

US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel offered US expertise in fighting terrorism to his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu in a phone conversation.

“Secretary Hagel also assured Minister Shoigu that the United States stands ready to provide security assistance to Russia for the Winter Olympics in Sochi, if requested,” Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby said.

“The leaders discussed the need to remain vigilant against these threats and considered additional opportunities to deepen our nationsโ€™ counterterrorism cooperation,โ€ Kirby added.

Hagel’s phone call followed dual bombings which left 34 people dead in the southern Russian city of Volgograd on Sunday and Monday.

Following the tragic events, US already offered ”liaison roles” to help during the Sochi Olympics. Russia is still to be responsible for overall security at the Games, but American diplomatic security agents will work with Russian security enforcement officials. Washington has proposed that the US effort be headed by the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security.

”The US government has offered our full support to the Russian government in security preparations for the Sochi Olympic Games,” White House spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said Monday. ”We would welcome the opportunity for closer cooperation for the safety of the athletes, spectators and other participants.”

Commenting on terrorist threats, the head of International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, Peter Knoope said, “They are trying to hurt the image that Russia is a peaceful, balanced and harmonious society … and show the world that there is obviously a lack of control of the security situation.โ€

In order to prevent terrorist activities Olympic venues in Sochi are planned to be patrolled by drones in the skies, robotic vehicles on the ground, and boats on the water.

President of the Russian Olympic Committee Alexander Zhukov said that the event will have proper security: in particular, surveillance drones will be used in the Olympics for the first time ever. In addition, two sonar systems to detect submarines and protect the Olympics from a sea-launched terror attack will be used.

On land all-weather robots with speeds of up to 100 km an hour will patrol Sochi region that borders the turbulent North Caucasus region.

Conventional security forces will see more than 40,000 police on duty and more than 5,000 surveillance cameras installed across the city will help counter-terrorism efforts

“One of the biggest challenges is how to maintain the wider national security levels given the focus on Sochi,” Andrew Amery, who oversaw security of the 2012 London Olympics, told AP. “This is an issue that is always realized early in the planning and … the risk of course is at the perimeter as we saw in the recent tragic events.”

But a Norwegian member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), who helped organize the 1994 Lillehammer Games, says that security measures at the games should be adequate.

“When we come to Sochi, it will be impossible for the terrorists to do anything,” said IOCโ€™s Gerhard Heiberg. “The village will be sealed off from the outside world. Security has been our priority No. 1 ever since Sochi got the games … for Russia, this is a matter of national pride.”

Following the Volgograd attacks, the IOC president expressed full confidence that Russia will produce a “safe and secure” Olympics.

“I am certain that everything will be done to ensure the security of the athletes and all the participants of the Olympic Games,” Thomas Bach said.

President Putin who was in Sochi on Saturday inspecting preparations for the Games has signed a decree on “specifics of application of increased security measures” during the Sochi Games where “increased security measures are to be introduced in the period between January 7, 2014 and March 21, 2014, ” as quoted by Voice of Russia.

The Olympics from February 7 to 23 will be held in Sochi, a city some 700 kilometers southwest of Volgograd, where the New Year bombings happened.

The blasts follow the March statement by the notorious Chechen rebel Doku Umarov, who called on Islamist militants in Russia’s North Caucasus to sabotage the Sochi Games.

He urged jihadist fighters to “do their utmost to derail” the games, which he called “satanic dances on the bones of our ancestors.”

“We have the obligation to use all means to prevent this,” he said in a video posted on a rebel website.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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