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| Putin’s Vision of Olympic Glory Meets a More Earthbound Reality in Sochi | Putin’s Vision of Olympic Glory Meets a More Earthbound Reality in Sochi |
| (5 months later) | |
| SOCHI, Russia — Cranes, dump trucks and more than 70,000 construction workers are now toiling 24 hours a day to transform this once sleepy Black Sea resort into its new role as sleek host of the 2014 Winter Olympics. | SOCHI, Russia — Cranes, dump trucks and more than 70,000 construction workers are now toiling 24 hours a day to transform this once sleepy Black Sea resort into its new role as sleek host of the 2014 Winter Olympics. |
| Russian officials have said the Games a year from now will be the most expensive ever, costing more than $50 billion. It is a staggering sum that would easily eclipse the record $42 billion spent by China on the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing, and reflects the outsize ambitions of President Vladimir V. Putin, who has made the Olympics a pet project. | |
| Dozens of new transit hubs, including hulking rail stations and glittering glass-and-steel airline terminals, are at various stages of completion. Laborers are laying hundreds of miles of roadways, renovating thousands of hotel rooms and building thousands more. Then there are the 13 official sites, split between a coastal complex and a mountain complex. They include a 40,000-seat stadium, two hockey arenas, two skating arenas and an “Ice Cube” for curling, as well as sites for skiing, snowboarding, a biathlon and other outdoor events. | Dozens of new transit hubs, including hulking rail stations and glittering glass-and-steel airline terminals, are at various stages of completion. Laborers are laying hundreds of miles of roadways, renovating thousands of hotel rooms and building thousands more. Then there are the 13 official sites, split between a coastal complex and a mountain complex. They include a 40,000-seat stadium, two hockey arenas, two skating arenas and an “Ice Cube” for curling, as well as sites for skiing, snowboarding, a biathlon and other outdoor events. |
| Mr. Putin, who arrived here this week to trumpet the one-year countdown, zipped from place to place on Wednesday for briefings and updates. And though he expressed some concerns about cost overruns in the mountain events, there is no doubt that a certain amount of exorbitance and grandiosity have been part of his plan from the beginning. | Mr. Putin, who arrived here this week to trumpet the one-year countdown, zipped from place to place on Wednesday for briefings and updates. And though he expressed some concerns about cost overruns in the mountain events, there is no doubt that a certain amount of exorbitance and grandiosity have been part of his plan from the beginning. |
| “Why did Putin decide to put his personality at stake, his prestige at stake, while bidding for a town having zero Olympic sites?” Mr. Putin’s personal spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, asked in a long conversation with reporters on Wednesday, in which he defended the spending even as he insisted that the $50 billion figure was overstated. “This kind of huge event is a perfect opportunity to have the whole region developed.” | |
| He called the scope of the project comparable to the “reconstruction of cities and towns after World War II.” | He called the scope of the project comparable to the “reconstruction of cities and towns after World War II.” |
| Parts of Sochi look less like a postwar reconstruction zone and more like the target of a sustained assault by rampaging aliens. In some places, cavernous pits open deep into the ground. In others, unfinished elevated train tracks halt in midair. Scaffolding abounds. Some neighborhoods are filled with so much latticed steelwork they make the city of 350,000 look like a child’s outsized Erector Set. | Parts of Sochi look less like a postwar reconstruction zone and more like the target of a sustained assault by rampaging aliens. In some places, cavernous pits open deep into the ground. In others, unfinished elevated train tracks halt in midair. Scaffolding abounds. Some neighborhoods are filled with so much latticed steelwork they make the city of 350,000 look like a child’s outsized Erector Set. |
| Towering cranes are such a fixture that many have been laced with neon lights, decorating the night sky with streaks of color. | Towering cranes are such a fixture that many have been laced with neon lights, decorating the night sky with streaks of color. |
| As with any enormous investment, there are risks. Just as Mr. Putin arrived with a government entourage and leaders of the International Olympic Committee, warm weather and a snow drought forced cancellation of world championship skiing and snowboarding events, set to start on Thursday. | As with any enormous investment, there are risks. Just as Mr. Putin arrived with a government entourage and leaders of the International Olympic Committee, warm weather and a snow drought forced cancellation of world championship skiing and snowboarding events, set to start on Thursday. |
| Sochi, known as the capital of the Russian Riviera with its palm-lined promenades, beaches and Soviet-era sanitariums, is the first subtropical host of the Winter Games. That is remotely plausible only because the city sits at the foot of the Caucasus Mountains, the site of most of the outdoor events. | |
| Besides purchasing a large arsenal of snow cannons, organizers plan to warehouse huge amounts of snow well in advance to ensure against any shortage. | Besides purchasing a large arsenal of snow cannons, organizers plan to warehouse huge amounts of snow well in advance to ensure against any shortage. |
| Weather, however, is hardly the only wild card. | Weather, however, is hardly the only wild card. |
| While Mr. Putin has embraced the role of host to secure Russia’s place on the world stage and add yet another chapter to his legacy, his critics see Russia’s role as inviting international scrutiny on issues like human rights and civil liberties, especially after recent steps by the Kremlin to suppress political dissent and curtail foreign influences. | While Mr. Putin has embraced the role of host to secure Russia’s place on the world stage and add yet another chapter to his legacy, his critics see Russia’s role as inviting international scrutiny on issues like human rights and civil liberties, especially after recent steps by the Kremlin to suppress political dissent and curtail foreign influences. |
| On Wednesday, in the first major international criticism of Russia’s handling of the Olympics, Human Rights Watch issued a report citing numerous abuses of migrant workers, many from the former Soviet republics of Central Asia, who have been brought in by the thousands. | On Wednesday, in the first major international criticism of Russia’s handling of the Olympics, Human Rights Watch issued a report citing numerous abuses of migrant workers, many from the former Soviet republics of Central Asia, who have been brought in by the thousands. |
| “Migrant workers said employers subjected them to a range of abuses and exploitation,” the report states, “including: failing to pay full wages; excessively delaying payment of wages, and in some cases failing to pay any wages at all; withholding identity documents, such as passports and work permits; failing to provide employment contracts, or failure to respect terms of a contract; and requiring excessive working hours.” | “Migrant workers said employers subjected them to a range of abuses and exploitation,” the report states, “including: failing to pay full wages; excessively delaying payment of wages, and in some cases failing to pay any wages at all; withholding identity documents, such as passports and work permits; failing to provide employment contracts, or failure to respect terms of a contract; and requiring excessive working hours.” |
| The report, based on interviews with more than 60 workers, said that in many cases “employer-provided housing was overcrowded and employer-provided meals were inadequate.” | The report, based on interviews with more than 60 workers, said that in many cases “employer-provided housing was overcrowded and employer-provided meals were inadequate.” |
| The International Olympic Committee said in a statement that it had raised the issue and that OlympStroi, the umbrella company responsible for official construction in Sochi, had done 1,300 inspections, finding only a small number of violations. | |
| Domestically, complaints have been mounting for months. | Domestically, complaints have been mounting for months. |
| Local journalists say they have been barred from reporting anything that hints at criticism of the Olympics. Sergey K. Belov, the former editor of the Chernomorskaya Zdravnitsa newspaper, closed in August 2011 ostensibly for financial reasons, said he believed that tough coverage of the Olympics was also a factor. “For all I know,” Mr. Belov said, “criticizing the Olympics is taboo from top to bottom.” | Local journalists say they have been barred from reporting anything that hints at criticism of the Olympics. Sergey K. Belov, the former editor of the Chernomorskaya Zdravnitsa newspaper, closed in August 2011 ostensibly for financial reasons, said he believed that tough coverage of the Olympics was also a factor. “For all I know,” Mr. Belov said, “criticizing the Olympics is taboo from top to bottom.” |
| Environmentalists have cited illegal dumping, destruction of forests and wildlife, and other violations. Dozens of residents say they have been forcibly relocated from their homes without adequate compensation, while thousands of others accepted payments and agreed to move to make way for construction. | Environmentalists have cited illegal dumping, destruction of forests and wildlife, and other violations. Dozens of residents say they have been forcibly relocated from their homes without adequate compensation, while thousands of others accepted payments and agreed to move to make way for construction. |
| While local criticism of the Olympics is hardly unique to Sochi, some complaints have been addressed with classic Russian heavy-handedness. On Wednesday evening, a half-hour before a scheduled news conference about property disputes, organizers of the event were ejected from the hotel conference room they had booked and forced to gather on the street. | While local criticism of the Olympics is hardly unique to Sochi, some complaints have been addressed with classic Russian heavy-handedness. On Wednesday evening, a half-hour before a scheduled news conference about property disputes, organizers of the event were ejected from the hotel conference room they had booked and forced to gather on the street. |
| The Games also pose serious security concerns, largely because of neighboring Abkhazia, a disputed territory that has sought independence from Georgia, and the North Caucasus, a hotbed of Islamist insurgency. | |
| Athletes arriving for trial events have reported large numbers of heavily armed riot police officers, frequent checkpoints and repeated requests to show credentials not only to gain access to athletic venues but also to exit or enter their living quarters. | |
| “Don’t expect to go anywhere without your credential,” Holly Brooks, an Alaskan who was here as part of the United States cross-country ski team, wrote last week in an article for The Anchorage Daily News. “After having to show my accreditation at least 50 times daily, I find myself subconsciously wearing it to do simple things like brushing my teeth — in my own bathroom.” | |
| Of course there has been fierce debate among Russians — and no small amount of outrage — over the cost of the Games. | |
| After Dmitri Kozak, the deputy prime minister in charge of the Sochi planning, announced that total costs were projected to exceed $50 billion, a blogger, Egor Bychkov, offered an alternative list of things the Russian government could buy to promote sports in the country. It included a new 25-meter-long swimming pool in each of Russia’s 1,100 cities; an “ice palace,” for skating in every city; and a 10,000-seat sports arena with artificial turf. | After Dmitri Kozak, the deputy prime minister in charge of the Sochi planning, announced that total costs were projected to exceed $50 billion, a blogger, Egor Bychkov, offered an alternative list of things the Russian government could buy to promote sports in the country. It included a new 25-meter-long swimming pool in each of Russia’s 1,100 cities; an “ice palace,” for skating in every city; and a 10,000-seat sports arena with artificial turf. |
| “Instead,” he wrote, “we are going to witness an expensive fireworks show that has nothing to do with the development of sports in the country.” | “Instead,” he wrote, “we are going to witness an expensive fireworks show that has nothing to do with the development of sports in the country.” |
| Mr. Putin and other supporters of the Games have made clear that they view the pride and prestige of hosting the Olympics to be priceless. It is Russia’s first Winter Olympics and its first Olympics since the Summer Games of 1980 in Moscow, when the United States led a boycott to protest the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan. | |
| Mr. Peskov, the president’s spokesman, said Russia was prepared for efforts to politicize the 2014 Games — perhaps even, he suggested, by Americans who still harbor cold war stereotypes. But he said Russia, and Mr. Putin, were intent on using the Games to showcase its true self. “Like all countries in the world — a country open to everyone, a country trying to attract tourists, trying to attract investments.” | |
Nikolay Khalip contributed reporting. | Nikolay Khalip contributed reporting. |