Austria fell in love with Sochi for 3%

Austrian firms received large contracts in the Olympic Sochi. The main lobbyist was a longtime friend of Vladimir Putin-the champion skier Karl Schrantz

Austrian firms received large contracts in the Olympic Sochi. The main lobbyist was a longtime friend of Vladimir Putin-the champion skier Karl Schrantz. Together with Gerard Depardieu, he will shoot in the film about Sochi-2014.

In March of this year, I sat in a cafe at Sochi Airport, waiting for my flight. "Sprich Yemand Deutsch?" - Smiling at the whole mouth, the visitor entered the cafe. The worker who turned out to be the Austrian said that he came to install showers in hotels. I did not attach any importance to this episode, but it turned out that it was the Austrians who are building an Olympic village, and the highways, and the lifts, and the medical center in Sochi, and to meet them is really not uncommon.

Austrian firms represented in Sochi are world leaders, for example, in the field of lifts. In total, about 50 Austrian firms participated in the creation of the infrastructure of the Sochi Olympic Games, totaling about 1.2 billion euros (out of 37 billion spent by Russia in Sochi), which is 3% of all investments. These are mainly firms from the ski land Tyrol. Such figures were named in Vienna at a reception organized by the Russian ambassador to Austria Sergey Nechaev on October 10, 2013. The main firms that implemented the Olympic construction project were Strabag (Olympic Village, Airport Modernization, Roads), Doppelmayr (funiculars), Vamed (Medical Center), Asamer Holding, Skidata.

In turn, the representative of Strabag Siegfried Wolf in October 2013 spoke about 2 billion euros received by Austrian firms (about 5% of all the money spent on Sochi).

Tyrol and Sochi: Exchange Orders

Let me remind you that Sochi became the capital of the 2014 Olympics according to the results of the IOC vote in July 2007. And he won just at the main competitor - the Austrian ski resort of Salzburg. In Salzburg, unlike Sochi, the ski structure was already developed and did not need record investment.

In January 2007, in an interview with the Austrian newspaper Der Standard, the famous veteran of Austrian skiing, Karl Shrantz said that his friend Vladimir Putin asked him to make every effort to win the candidacy of Sochi, not Salzburg.

Karl Schrantz met Vladimir Putin, skiing in Tyrol in 2001, and since then they have been friends - they see each other once a year, the famous skier said. Putin was regularly rested in Tyrol, local journalist Peter Nindler told me. The press repeatedly engaged in speculations on the topic of Putin's Austrian holidays, and the "yellow" publications even attributed to Putin the house in Kitzbuel.

Karl Schrantz was the most famous Austrian skier of the 60-70s. But he could not become the Olympic champion, and at the Olympics in Sapporo in 1972 he was disqualified for sponsorship contracts with ski manufacturers.

In November 2008, the Dee Press newspaper also noted that, with the mediation of the head of the Russian Olympic Committee, Leonid Tyakachev, the friendship of Karl Shranz with Vladimir Putin. "With Putin, they spend time together not only on the ski track." The publication noted that it was Karl Schrantz who gave advice to Vladimir Putin how to make Sochi to become the capital of the Olympic Games. What kind of advice were and what role they played is unknown, the “dark places” remain, the newspaper is carefully formulated.

Karl Shranz had a good relationship with Juan Antonio Samararanch, the former President of the IOC, and then the honorary president. According to the sources of the now closed magazine Russian Newsweek, despite the fact that in 2007, Samararanch, who had special relations with Moscow, was no longer the head of the IOC, the committee remained "Samararanch people", and the Russians acted through them:

"According to an estimate of a source close to the organizers of the application," only on
The bribery was spent about $ 50 million .... The main lobbyist of the Russian application was made by the Honorary President of the IOC Spaniard Huan Antonio Samararanch. Shamil Tarpishchev explains his influence simply: "Samaranch, although the IOC does not manage, but the delegates are almost all chosen with him, in fact for lifelong." By the way, Putin thanked Samararancha even before the vote - during their joint dinner in Guatemala City. "(Newsweek, 07/07/2007).

Karl Schrantz himself could not affect the vote without being a member of the IOC, but he could provide all possible assistance: Karl Shranz , in his own words, in Austria, "established contacts and explained that Russia could resort to the help of numerous Austrian firms during the construction of infrastructure."

Karl Schrantz expressed satisfaction with his own efforts to promote Sochi and reminded the Standard newspaper in early 2007 that the understanding between Tyrol and Sochi was already found. Leonid Tyagachev - at that time the head of the Olympic Committee of Russia - the head of the Earth Tyrole, was already awarded the Order of the Big Tirolian eagle - the highest award of Tyrol. This happened in November 2006, with the wording "for strengthening the Olympic movement and relations between the Austrian Republic and the Russian Federation."

The response order two years later was awarded to Karl Schrantz himself. In November 2008, Shrantz celebrated his 70th anniversary in Austria, and Leonid Tyagachev and Vladimir Kozhin were handed the order to him, and Putin “could not resist” and personally called congratulations.

This is how this award was described by Leonid Tyagachev himself in an interview with sports publications: “Vladimir Igorevich Kozhin and I, on behalf of the first leaders of the country, visited Austria to congratulate Karl Shranza on the 70th anniversary of the legendary skine. President Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev signed a decree on the awarding of Karl Order of Friendship, and I presented it with Kozhin. The chairman of the government, Vladimirovich Putin, handed over a congratulatory telegram, could not resist, during the feast he called himself (laughs).

The order was not limited. The shooting of Karl Shranz in a playful film about the Olympics in Sochi "Sports without Borders" together with Gerard Depardieu and Maria Kozhevnikova are announced . True, at the Stella film studio in Moscow, where the shooting of this film is declared, the RS correspondent was refused to call the exact deadlines: “Preparatory work is underway, the shooting of this film is planned. We can’t give concrete information yet ,” the Stella film studio reported.

Siegrfried Wolf: "Putin - Dreamy"

One of the Austrians is a member of the board of directors of the largest Strabag, as well as other firms employed in Sochi, Siegfried Wolf in an interview with Tyroler Tagesitung newspaper in October 2013 said that everything is ready by 95%, however, in order to finish the remaining 5%, a “great art” will be required. “Putin is a soothsayer, a strong leading person, a resourceful person,” Siegfried Wolf said, answering the question of how he would describe the Russian president. “Russia needs a strong leader, while the country is in the process of recovery. Vladimir Putin does it with a hard hand, but with a global vision and with his heart,” Wolf explained, who knows Vladimir Putin firsthand. To the question of the Austrian publication about human rights violations in Russia, Wolf replied that the "musical trio" (meaning Pussy Riot), would have problems in Austria . "I believe that the legal system is, of course, an important topic, but Putin reacted to this and appointed the Ombudsman."

Earlier, in 2010, Wolf headed one of the structures of the "basic element" of Oleg Deripaska and actually moved to work in Russia. On this occasion, he declared the Central Austrian newspaper Dee Press that "money is not his only motivation." In addition, Wolf sees "as a link between the Russian and European industry."

Of the more than 40 Austrian firms engaged in a construction site in Sochi, 6 are Tyrol, this is an economically leading land of Austria. Strabag received the lion's share of the Tyrolean contracts (for 450 million euros in total). “We had high expectations, but reality surpassed them ,” Deter Fellner , a trade representative of Austria in Moscow, expressed satisfaction in an interview with Tiroler Tagesitsytung . Fellner also noted that it was actually not easy for foreign firms to receive admission to the Olympic construction site, but Austrian firms received subcontracts from Russian, and, in addition, played the role of historically close ties between Russia and Austria.

"The issue of costs is not worth it"

Back in 2007, when Karl Schrantz first visited Sochi and flew around by helicopter, he was Swiss Bernhard Rossy. The Putin Builder of Ski Tracks - such a report on the work of Rossy in Sochi was released by the Swiss Channel SRF . Noting that "the issue of costs is not worth it," the report was told how Putin seeks to make Russia a ski superpower. "The costs of the development of the Sochi region are estimated at more than 30 billion francs. Some entrepreneurs complain that they have to pay bribes for receiving an order for construction. However, there are still no court sentences," SRF reported. Rossy noted the weather changes, and too much, according to him, the amount of snow at the tops in Sochi, which is also bad for skiing, but wondered: what if the future in Eastern Europe - in particular, Russia can follow Slovenia and Bulgaria, why not?

For Austria, the Sochi contracts became at least some comfort after the loss of Salzburg on the vote. And, by the way, Austria accepts 45% of all Russian tourists traveling to skiing, and Sochi can only dream of such numbers.