Window on Eurasia
Vienna, April 13 – Even
before the International Olympic Committee, after intense lobbying by
then-Russian President Vladimir Putin, awarded the 2014 Winter Games to
Sochi, it was obvious to many that Russia would face serious challenges
in getting the venue ready for the Olympics and ensuring that they
passed off safely.
Now, all the problems they warned about–
violence in neighboring areas, environmental concerns, objections to
holding such a competition on the site of a nineteenth century
genocide, and both paying for infrastructure and finding workers to
build it – have become more obvious, and as a result, some in Moscow
are casting about for possible solutions.
Last year, opposition
figure Boris Nemtsov suggested that the name Sochi Games be retained
but that the competitions take place at existing sports facilities in
other Russian cities, but now, the editors of Liberty.ru have proposed
saving the day by creating new federal subject directly subordinate to
Moscow (www.liberty.ru/Themes/Kak-spasti-Olimpiadu-v-Sochi).
"Many
of the administrative problems which are having a negative impact on
preparations for the Games are the result of the subordination of Sochi
to Krasnodar kray,” they argue. Consequently, removing Sochi from that
kray and creating a separate Black Sea kray could "allow the securing
of a more effective relationship of the center and the region.”
Such
a new federal subject, the Liberty.ru editors say, would not have to
coordinate with Krasnodar and could receive subsidies directly from the
federal budget and thus get all the money the central government
intends them to have, thus bypassing the "power ‘filters’” of the
existing kray.
The editors point out that there is a precedent
for taking this step even in Sochi itself. Between August 1948 and June
1958, Sochi was "like Moscow, Leningrad [now St. Petersburg], Kyiv and
Sevastopol, a city of republic subordination” because it served as a
resort that was used largely by senior officials of the central
government.
"In the Soviet Union,” the editors say, it was well
understood that Sochi is a special place which one must not compare
with any other region of Russia.” Consequently, "the return to Sochi of
such a special status within the framework of the Russian Federation
should help the revival of the region and the successful conduct of the
2014 Olympics.”
Not only does the Russian Federation have the
recent tradition of amalgamating regions – another one of Putin’s pet
projects – but, the editors say, "it is possible to provide a multitude
of arguments in favor of the separating out of Sochi” from Krasnodar
kray. "The main one is that Sochi and Krasnodar kray have radically
different structures both economically and socially.”
Krasnodar
is based on agriculture, while Sochi is based on tourism and now the
Olympics. And after the games are held, the editors say, there will be
even more reason to keep Sochi separate so that it will be able to
promote itself rather than become yet another "company town”
(http://www.liberty.ru/columns/Zametki-o-social-nom/Monogorod-odnoj-Olimpiady).
Sochi
must not be allowed to fall back to the status of "a provincial resort,
less attractive than Turkey and Egypt, with empty stadiums,” the
editors say. Moreover, they suggest, "the establishment of a Black Sea
kray will become for the city a real reward for the Olympics,” making
into "a model tourist region” perhaps "on the model of the American Las
Vegas.”
The Liberty.ru editors helpfully attach an 800-word
draft law that, if adopted, would lead to the creation of the new kray,
a draft they say they will be forwarding "through deputies friendly to
us for consideration by the corresponding commissions of the State
Duma” after seeking support from the government, the National Olympic
Committee and the Social Chamber
(www.liberty.ru/groups/federal-bureaucrats/FKZ-Ob-obrazovanii-v-sostave-Rossijskoj-Federacii-novogo-sub-ekta-Rossijskoj-Federacii-CHernomorskogo-kraya).
Given
how many problems the creation of such a new federal subject in the
North Caucasus would cause and how few of the problems it would solve
in advance of the planned games, it is unlikely that this proposal will
receive widespread support. But it is a measure of just how desperate
some in Moscow have become that such an idea is being floated at all.
http://windowoneurasia.blogspot.com/2010/04/window-on-eurasia-can-2014-sochi-games.html