Translated material
Question by the ridge
Under pressure from environmentalists, Vladimir Putin moved two objects of the 2014 Olympics to another location
Yesterday in Sochi there was a sensation: a meeting of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin with environmentalists on issues of environmental support for preparations for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games ended with the decision to move the construction of two Olympic facilities from the Pear Ridge to another site - the luge and bobsleigh track and the Olympic mountain villages. Thus, the almost two-year confrontation between environmentalists and the organizers of the Games in Sochi ended, as Igor Chestin, director of the World Wildlife Fund of Russia (WWF Russia), said after the meeting, “a victory of common sense.”True, a little later it became clear that the sensation had been carefully prepared in advance and the decision to postpone the construction of two Olympic venues, associated with the loss of at least time, which is already very little, was only announced yesterday. And it was adopted, presumably, a few days earlier. This became obvious when, immediately after a meeting with environmentalists, Vladimir Putin met with Jean-Claude Killy, the head of the IOC commission overseeing the preparations for the 2014 Games, and with the executive director of the International Olympic Committee, Gilbert Felli, who “suddenly” found themselves in Sochi. The issue of moving the bobsleigh and luge track to another location was immediately agreed upon with them. As for the mountainous Olympic village, designed to accommodate 7.5 thousand athletes, then, according to Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov, a new place for its construction will still have to be found. Moreover, this must be done quickly: according to the previously adopted plan for the preparation of the 2014 Olympics, by August 1 it is necessary to submit to the IOC final options for the construction sites of all facilities necessary for the Games.
Let us remind you that in Sochi, competitions according to the Winter Olympic Games program will be held in two territories. Everything that does not require mountainous terrain (hockey, figure skating, speed skating, etc.) will take place on the seashore in a special Olympic park, the construction of which is planned in the Lower Imeretinsk lowland, where, by the way, not all issues with environmentalists and local residents. And competitions in other sports (alpine skiing, biathlon, ski jumping, bobsleigh, etc.) will be held in the vicinity of the Sochi high-mountain village of Krasnaya Polyana. In particular, on one of the ridges, which is called Grushev because of the abundant wild pear growing on it, it was planned to build a bobsleigh track and an Olympic village. From the very first day of the publication of the Sochi Olympic plans, environmentalists - both scientists and public organizations - opposed any development of the Pear Ridge.
Yesterday in Sochi, the need to preserve the Pear Ridge in its original form was defended to Vladimir Putin by the director of WWF Russia Igor Chestin, the director of Greenpeace Russia programs Ivan Blokov, the coordinator of the “Ecological Watch in the North Caucasus” of the International Social-Ecological Union Andrei Rudomakha and the director of the Institute of Geoecology Russian Academy of Sciences Viktor Osipov. They talked about the uniqueness of this corner of nature, that there are very important migration routes for many animals. And Viktor Osipov argued that this site cannot be considered the right choice also because the Pear Ridge is an extremely seismically dangerous place. Therefore, any facility built there will require large investments to increase seismic resistance. In addition, the road to the Pear Ridge will have to be built along landslide slopes, and huge costs will also be required to combat landslides.
The significance of the Pear Ridge as a particularly valuable natural formation is evidenced more than any words by the fact that it is part of the UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site "Western Caucasus", which unites the most valuable forest areas of the State Caucasian Biosphere Reserve and several places of the Sochi National Park. (Pear Ridge is located on the territory of the national park in close proximity to the reserve.)
This year, a UNESCO commission and an expert group of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) worked in Sochi. They confirmed the fears of Russian environmentalists that the Olympic construction on the Pear Ridge could be disastrous for it. It can be assumed that Vladimir Putin’s decision to leave Pear Ridge alone was influenced by the fact that on July 2, the XXXII session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee opened in Quebec, Canada, at which, as is known, the report of the commission that studied the situation in Sochi will be heard. It is also known that at this session (its work will last ten days) it was planned to assign a different status to the “Western Caucasus” object - “a World Heritage site under threat.” This would mean a statement of Russia’s failure to fulfill its obligations to protect nature. Now, According to environmentalists who took part in the meeting with Vladimir Putin, nothing like this will happen: the Russian prime minister made a preemptive move.
By the way, as it turned out yesterday, the idea to build a bobsleigh and luge track on Pear Ridge belonged to specialists from the International Luge and Bobsleigh Federation. They considered that the topography of the ridge was most suitable for the construction of this structure, and rejected all alternative options, despite the protests of environmentalists. Vladimir Putin yesterday sharply criticized senior officials in charge of preparing for the 2014 Olympics for failing to establish a constructive dialogue with environmentalists and not resolving the issue earlier. As a result, at least six months of time and about 70 million rubles were lost, spent on designing a bobsleigh and luge track on the Pear Ridge. However, as the head of government emphasized, “money is a profitable business,” and if the balance in nature is upset, a situation may arise that no amount of money can correct.
Yesterday it was decided to build an Olympic bobsleigh and luge track in the area of the currently operating Krasnopolyansk ski resort "Alpika Service". “Will we be behind schedule for the construction of Olympic venues?” - Vladimir Putin asked the president of the Olimpstroy state corporation, in the recent past the mayor of Sochi, Viktor Kolodyazhny. He replied: “We will try...” The head of government sharply interrupted Mr. Kolodyazhny: “This is not an answer! “We will try” is a process... This is Trotskyism, as they say. I want to hear from you, as the head of a state corporation, a direct, clear and unambiguously understood answer!” After such words from the Prime Minister, Viktor Kolodyazhny had no choice but to blurt out, blushing deeply: “We will build this facility on time, on time!” Putin immediately cheered up: “That’s a different matter!” And he added: “I think everything is clear to you...”
Journalists covering yesterday's meeting between Vladimir Putin and environmentalists were most interested in the question: how much will the costs of the already unprecedentedly expensive Olympics in Sochi increase due to the transfer of construction of facilities to other places? According to Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov, costs will even decrease somewhat, because now there will be no need to build roads into the mountains: the approaches to the Alpika Service resort area were built a long time ago. Later, in a private conversation with journalists, environmentalists suggested that businessmen insisted more on the development of the Pear Ridge: a road would be built at state expense, and then this unique corner of nature would be developed by building hotels and boarding houses on the border of the reserve.
Yesterday it was decided to move another Olympic construction site - a water intake, which, as it turned out, was planned to be built on the territory of the reserve. Not only where to build, but where to walk is prohibited. True, they did not say yesterday where they will now get water to supply the Olympic venues.