NYT Reports on Security Situation in Sochi,

The New York Times has a nice little summary of the security situation surrounding the run-up to the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.  It hits the major events (Domodedovo, killing of tourists, civil war in Chechnya), with a little bit of analysis from Dimitri Kozak, who is deputy prime minister and nominally in charge of the building in Sochi:

In an interview, a deputy prime minister, Dmitri N. Kozak, acknowledged that such groups would be likely to try to step up their activities as the Olympics drew closer. But he played down the significance of Sochi’s location, saying that the terrain was so difficult to traverse that it was easier to travel by plane from Moscow — about 850 miles — than over land from Chechnya.

“Concerning geography, I would say that it is an illusion that there is more access to Sochi for terrorists,” Mr. Kozak said. “Sochi is isolated from the rest of the Caucasus — Chechnya and other such regions — by mountains that are not easily passable.”

He said the Sochi Olympics would be a target for extremist groups around the world, not just those from the Caucasus. “Today, distance for terrorist organizations does not have much meaning,” he said.

I'm interested because, to my knowledge, this is the first time a major figure in the Russian government has acknowledged the fact that terrorists might step up their game as the Olympics draw closer.  I take some issue with the idea that Sochi would be a target from other terrorist groups from the around the world and not just from the Caucasus.  This may be true (Munich, 1972 comes to mind) but the odds are that the future attacks will be from domestic sources.  And Kozak knows this, but the idea that there are external enemies is one that is going to be, in my opinion, pushed ever more heavily as 2014 comes closer.  Russia's foreign policy places primacy on the right to do whatever is necessary to assure internal security and it's a lot easier to plant the idea that there may be external disruptions than to acknowledge the fact that you are having  difficulty with the internal version.