Paul
Goble
Staunton, January 15 – Reflecting both
the nature of his regime and the security problems facing Moscow as it
organizes the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, Russian President Vladimir Putin
today names a security-heavy commission to prepare and carry out those games in
the still far from settled North Caucasus.
According to the decree, a complete
text of which is at news.kremlin.ru/acts/17333,
this commission, the latest Russian state organization to be put in charge of
the games, will be responsible for coordinating and directing the actions of
all government and non-government bodies involved.
The
new body, according to the decree, is to have 37 members, including a large
contingent from the security services. It is chaired by Dmitry Kozak, the
deputy head of the Russian government. One of his deputies is O.V. Syromolotov,
the head of the first service of the FSB.
Other
key members with security responsibilities are the defense minister, the head
of the Federal Migration Service, the civil defense ministry, the foreign
minister, the justice minister, and the internal affairs minister, a pattern
highlighted by the report of the “Russky mir” news service (www.russkiymir.ru/russkiymir/ru/news/common/news36392.html).
Obviously, in today’s world, any
government organizing an Olympiad would involve security officials, but the dominance
of such officials in this Russian commission seems certain to spark new
concerns about whether Moscow will in fact be able to guarantee security for
those involved and also about what it may do in the interim to try to ensure
that security.
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