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International intelligence groups to ensure Sochi Olympics security
July 4, 2013, 12:16 pm

[Getty Images]

A general view of Sochi, Russia [Getty Images]

Russia has asserted that security at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi will be ensured by coordinated actions of several countries’ special services.

The Sochi Olympics was the key topic at the recent international security conference in Vladivostok.

“Security will be ensured by special services from not only Russia but from a number of leading world countries as well,” said Nikolai Patrushev, Russia’s Security Council Secretary.

Moscow has already secured partnerships with intelligence services in other countries, including the UK.

British Prime Minister David Cameron proposed the move for UK intelligence services to partner with Russian security personnel.

The Black Sea resort of Sochi is in close proximity to the violence-prone regions of North Caucuses, Chechnya and Dagestan.

Calls to derail the games have also come from the Imarat Kavkaz – a violent group recognised as spreading terror by both Russian and US authorities.

In a video that circulated on the internet, the leader of the group Doku Umarov called on its followers to prevent the games that it claimed were being held “on the bones of our ancestors.”

Russia’s National Antiterrorist Committee, however, said that it has implemented a set of measures to curb the activity of such outfits.

“We are working to prepare for the Sochi Olympics and are paying priority attention to the issue of security,” Patrushev said.

Daria Chernyshova with inputs from Agencies