After a number of Olympic committees, among them also Slovenia's, received threats ahead of the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) declared that the threats were not real.
According to Reuters the Hungarian Olympic Committee sent its threat letter to the International Olympic Committee and to Russia's organisers. After an expert analysis of the letter the IOC declared the threat "non-threatening". "The IOC and the organisers in Sochi officially announce that the threat is not real. The person behind the threat has sent different letters to members of the Olympic family many times," is what the Committee said.
A representative of the Slovenian Olympic Committee, Brane Dmitrovič, told MMC that they also received a threat via email on Tuesday night. Mr. Dmitrovič said: "We hope that nothing like this will happen, but we're not underestimating the situation. We've notified all the relevant institutions, the Interior Ministry and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs." He added that the Slovenian Olympic Committee was not considering any changes regarding Slovenia’s expedition to Sochi "as the International Olympic Committee will surely know what to do. We're going to Sochi, just like everyone else is," he also said. At the end he promised to send us the letter they received.
The Hungarian media was the first to report about their committee receiving a threat letter. The chairman of the Hungarian Olympic Committee, Zsolt Borkai, said they received letters at the committee's headquarters written in English and Russian languages. In them terrorists are threatening with attacks during the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi. Mr. Borkai notified the International Olympic Committee and Russia’s organisers. He added that according to his information other Olympic committee's have also received letters with similar content. The Secretary General of the Hungarian Olympic Committee, Bence Szabo, received a similar email. He added that an investigation into the threats is already underway. "The messages threaten the Hungarian delegation to Sochi with terrorist activity, and advise us to rather stay home."
In the meantime Russia's police put out posters in hotels, airports and bus stations in Sochi of Ruzanna Ibragimova. They suspect the 23-year old from Dagestan, in the North Caucasus region, plans to carry out a suicide attack during the biggest sporting event. She's thought to be a black widow, as her husband was an Islamist militant. It's believed that she managed to slip into Sochi earlier this month, despite tightened security.
Apart from her, authorities in Sochi and its surroundings are also looking for at least two more potential female suicide bombers.
The Games in Sochi will see one of the biggest security operations in Olympic history. Around 30.000 police officers will be in charge of security. Access to the area will also be heavily restricted.
U.S President Barack Obama gave Russia's President Vladimir Putin a call on Tuesday to offer him "full support" in ensuring the safety of the Games. There has still been no Russian response to the U.S offer. CNN reported on Monday that the U.S military was preparing two warships and several transport aircraft to be on standby to help evacuate Americans from Sochi in case of a catastrophic terrorist attack.
The two countries are reportedly also negotiating the use of U.S high tech equipment to ensure security at the Games. The equipment is supposed to help detect improvised explosive devices, and is already in use by the Americans in Afghanistan. According to the New York Times daily, the chiefs of the armed forces of the U.S and Russia, Martin Dempsey and Valerij Gerasimov, are involved in the talks.
Russian authorities fear attacks from Islamist militants coming from the North Caucasus region during the Olympic Games. Fears were heightened by two suicide bomb attacks in Volgograd last month, in which 34 people lost their lives.