Translated material
All kinds of transparency
By the end of the week, Russia will begin spending money on preparations for the 2014 Olympics
The city of Sochi won the right to host the 2014 Winter Olympics, but has not yet won. Whether he wins or not will become clear in 2012. It is two years before the start of the Games that the Sochi Olympic infrastructure should be tested in action . This was stated yesterday by the chairman of the coordination mission of the International Olympic Committee, Jean-Claude Killy, who arrived in Russia to get acquainted with the work of all Russian structures involved in organizing the XXII Winter Olympic Games and XI Paralympic Games.Yesterday, the legendary alpine skier Mr. Killy took part in a meeting of the presidium of the Presidential Council for Physical Education and Sports, which is headed by Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov. The presidium also included Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov, Minister of Regional Development Dmitry Kozak, head of Rossport Vyacheslav Fetisov, manager of presidential affairs Vladimir Kozhin, Deputy Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov, president of the Interros holding company Vladimir Potanin (apparently as a representative of private business ), director of the Sochi-2014 organizing committee Dmitry Chernyshenko.
Looking at the crowd at the White House, Mr. Zubkov said: “In this audience, I think no one needs to be convinced of the importance of the tasks.” However, Mr. Killy decided that a little convincing was needed. He suggested rising above “normality”: “We cannot be satisfied with normality. We are looking forward to hosting the greatest Olympic Games in the history of the movement. This bar is high, but we have everything to achieve it." Mr. Killy outlined the scale of the event in numbers: about 1 million tickets and 3 billion television viewers - this is the audience planned for the Games in Sochi.
Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov tried to reassure Mr. Killy that he arrived in Moscow just in time, when “all organizational, legislative and financial decisions have been made.” The Duma approved the Olympic Law, as well as the law on the creation of the Olympic State Construction Corporation (Olympstroy), whose general director was Semyon Vainshtok.
Yesterday, the Presidium of the Olympic Council outlined the composition of the working groups (on transport, ecology, safety, medicine) and commissions. For example, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov will head the commission for preparations for the Olympics, presidential press secretary Alexei Gromov will head the commission for information support of the Games, Vyacheslav Fetisov will head the commission for physical education and elite sports.
“We must become the best,” Mr. Zhukov assured journalists after the meeting of the presidium. And Mr. Killy noted that “once the technical basis is in place, everything depends on the quality of the people” and that he “has no fear of failure if Russia is responsible.”
Mr. Zhukov also confidently stated that “the economic consequences of the Olympics will be extremely positive for both the region and Russia.” “This is a boost to the Sochi economy. This is a base for tourism. Naturally, the capitalization of Sochi has increased. This always happens,” he said. Answering an uncomfortable question about the fate of those people whose land will be taken away due to the needs of the Olympics, Mr. Zhukov showed himself to be an enviable optimist. He said that the authorities “are giving this priority attention so that the rights of citizens are not infringed, they will either be given equal land plots or will be offered a buyout at fair market prices.” The Deputy Prime Minister promised that prices would be determined by independent appraisers.
So far, not only these plans for the peaceful and mutually beneficial seizure of land plots from Sochi residents, but also the construction plans look like a beautiful fairy tale. The scale of the costs is not entirely clear. The head of the state corporation, Semyon Vainshtok, flatly refuses to name even approximate amounts. “Until the project documentation is 100% prepared, I won’t give a single figure,” he said. But he promised that control over the finances of his company would be strict. In addition to the Accounts Chamber, specially created departments in the Prosecutor General's Office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs will monitor the state corporation. “The main thing is control. And all kinds of transparency,” Mr. Weinstock emphasized. So far, only one figure is known: by the end of this week, the first 500 million rubles will be transferred to the state corporation’s account. from the budget.