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With the Sochi Winter Olympics just four days away, Russia is taking zero chances with security...
stepping
measures up to extraordinary levels. But experts warn Islamist extremists may be
able to find a way through the "Ring of Steel" around the city.
Connie Kim has the details. With just a few days left until the torch is lit to signal
the start of the Sochi Winter
Olympics, security measures have been stepped up even further amid serious concerns Islamist
elements within
Russia's restive south could be plotting a terrorist attack.
Experts point out terrorist elements may already be around the area, sitting like sleeper cells
awaiting instructions. Citing a bomb attack at a stadium in the Chechen
capital, Grozny, in 2004, a security expert says the bomb used
then was embedded in a concrete pillar three months prior to its detonation.
Ian von Gordon, director of a protection training institute, says Sochi is bound to be a target
as extremist Islamist
groups in Russia's Caucasus region have vowed to launch an attack if the Games go ahead
in Sochi. He says it's highly likely people with ties
to these groups have applied to work as contractors or employees for
construction companies used to build Olympic facilities.
Some 100-thousand contractors are estimated to have been working at Olympic venues, working
as bus drivers or
in sewer construction. Security may be the main concern, but it isn't
the only thing making officials sweat despite the chilly
temperatures... as much of the construction for athlete and media accommodation is still
not completely finished. With a record 51 billion U.S. dollars poured
into the Games by the Russian government, hotels still sit unfinished,
buildings unnamed and it's easy to spot people on ladders doing some last-minute fixing and
drilling. Although the sports venues are ready to go,
the eyes of the world will be fixed to see whether Russia, with little
experience of hosting huge events, has what it takes to successfully host one of the world's
premium sporting
events. Connie Kim, Arirang News.