Concerns and controversies at the 2014 Winter Olympics
[10] The organization felt that the laws were no substitute for an effective justice system, and demanded the Russian authorities to release immediately and unconditionally all prisoners of conscience (POCs).
The Russian parliament passed an amnesty bill that freed the imprisoned Pussy Riot singers, the foreign activists amongst Greenpeace's "Arctic 30" and the 2012 Bolotnaya Square protest.
Many resettled residents lost a portion of their livelihoods; Threats, harassment, and lawsuits of activists and journalists critical of the Games, as well as Russia's discriminatory anti-LGBT propaganda law.
Sergei Nikitin, Amnesty International's Moscow Office Director said: "The Russian authorities must halt their harassment of civil society activists, protect the right to peaceful freedom of expression, and release the Sochi prisoners of conscience: Igor Kharchenko and his fellow environmentalist Yevgeny Vitishko, who is currently serving 15 days in administrative detention on trumped-up charges.
Yevgeniy Vitishko and his fellow activists have been actively involved in protests regarding the deforestation and illegal construction and fencing in areas of protected forest around Sochi.
Almost daily there are reports of arrests of activists in Sochi and the Olympic Games area including Semyon Simonov Memorial, David Hakim and journalists from Radio Free Europe and Novaya Gazeta.
[23] Russia became the subject of international criticism following the signing of a federal law by Vladimir Putin in June 2013, which banned the distribution of "propaganda of non-traditional sexual relationships" among minors.
Human Rights Campaign (HRC) president Chad Griffin argued that even kissing a same-sex partner or displaying LGBT symbols such as the rainbow flag could be illegal under the law.
[36] At January 2014 Russian leader of the Left Front movement Vladislav Ryazantsev together with like-minded persons opened out an informative campaign against Olympic Games in Sochi.
Its purpose is collection and publication of true information about violations, crimes and peculations during the preparation of the Olympic Games, helping to open eyes people», — Vladislav Ryazantsev reported to the journalist of Donnews.ru.
[47] Several major non-sponsors also made pro-LGBT statements to coincide with the opening of the Games; Google placed a quotation from the Olympic Charter and an Olympic-themed logo in the colors of the rainbow flag on its home page worldwide,[48] while Channel 4 (who serves as the official British broadcaster of the Paralympics) adopted a rainbow-colored logo and broadcast a "celebratory", pro-LGBT advert entitled "Gay Mountain" on 7 February 2014, alongside an interview with former rugby union player and anti-homophobia activist Ben Cohen.
[54] In December 2014, German public broadcaster ARD aired a documentary which made wide-ranging allegations that Russia organized a state-run doping program which supplied their athletes with performance-enhancing drugs.
[57] Rodchenkov stated that the FSB tampered with over 100 urine samples as part of a cover-up, and that at least fifteen of the Russian medals won at Sochi were the result of doping.
Six skiers were provisionally suspended from competition on the basis of the McLaren report: Evgeniy Belov, Alexander Legkov, Alexey Petukhov, Maxim Vylegzhanin, Yuliya Ivanova and Yevgeniya Shapovalova.
The International Biathlon Union provisionally suspended two biathletes who were in the Sochi games: Olga Vilukhina and Yana Romanova, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport.
[96] On 7 February 2014, during the opening ceremony and one day after the start of the 2014 Winter Olympics, a man attempted to hijack Pegasus Airlines Flight 751[97] that was traveling from Kharkiv, Ukraine, to Istanbul, Turkey.
[104][105] Despite several expert statements[106][107] that the construction of Olympic venues in the buffer area of the UNESCO protected Caucasus Biosphere Reserve and Sochi National Park could be harmful, the IOC approved the plans.
They included a cascade of hydroelectric power stations on the Mzymta River, sewage treatment facilities, a high-speed rail link, a Mountain Olympic Village, a track for bobsleigh, luge and skeleton (which was relocated in May 2009), and a biathlon venue.
Environmentalists also opposed the plan of construction of a cargo terminal for ships in the mouth of the Psou River in the Imereti Lowland, because this could lead to the destruction of the largest areas of sea-flooded shore and marshes.
The stalling of the economy, despite the stimulus of Olympic spending, has raised worries about popular unrest directed at the Kremlin and a tightening of political freedoms in response once the Games are over.
[122] After the IOC Evaluation Commission visited Sochi in February 2007, local authorities promised to buy the lands from Lower Imereti Bay long-time residents for a fair market price.
[127] According to an article in Daily Telegraph, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, head of Saudi intelligence, allegedly confronted the Kremlin with a mix of inducements and threats in a bid to break the deadlock over Syria.
[128] Russian Envoy to the North Caucasus Alexander Khloponin told local law enforcement that "the violent scramble for assets" is likely to get worse as Russia invests heavily in tourist infrastructure and Olympic-caliber ski resorts.
[130] The British, German, Italian, Hungarian, Austrian, Slovenian and Slovakian Olympic associations received threats that athletes would be "blown up" or kidnapped by terrorists at the Winter Games.
On 8 February, The Daily Currant posted a story alleging that a man responsible for operating the Olympic rings during the opening ceremony, which famously suffered a technical glitch, had been "found dead...with multiple stab wounds.
[143][144] In an interview, IOC supervisor Jean-Claude Killy stated that several hotels intended to house the foreign media were unfinished by the opening of the Olympics because officials realized "too late" that construction had fallen behind.
[163] Other notable incidents: During the women's 15-kilometre skiathlon four Norwegian skiers used black mourning binds in honor of teammate Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen's brother who had died unexpectedly on the opening day of the Olympics.
On 19 February Ukrainian athletes asked for and were refused permission by the IOC to wear black arm bands to honor those killed in the violent clashes in Kyiv the previous day.
[177] The Russian mafia helped Russia win the games by threatening the Salzburg campaign leader Fedor Radmann, who later resigned in 2007, according to German security officials.
[178] Informants observed a meeting between mafia leaders and Russian government foreign policy advisor Sergei Prikhodko in 2006 in a Munich restaurant to discuss the Olympic selection process.
