According to the STP, the Winter Games are becoming a mere propaganda event for Putin's repressive state. Arbitrary measures against civilians are likely to increase!

On Wednesday – 100 days before the official beginning of the Winter Olympics in Sochi – Russian President Vladimir Putin and IOC President Thomas Bach will announce the final spurt for the preparations to the major sporting event." But there aren't many reasons to celebrate," warns the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP). "The security measures, the monitoring of both athletes and visitors will be as intense as the anti-terrorism measures in the nearby Caucasus republics of Chechnya and Dagestan. The media coverage has already been strictly controlled for months. Putin is using the Winter Games to demonstrate his power – this is not about the Olympic spirit or the sporting events," criticized the human rights organization.

Shortly before the beginning of the Winter Games, many people in the regions of North Caucasus fear that repressions will increase again." The authorities and politicians will be trying to step up the measures against the terrorist underground, meaning that the civilians will become victims of state violence too," said the STP's CIS-consultant, Sarah Reinke, in Berlin. She criticized the fact that the IOC has refused to show commitment for human rights during the past months. "The Winter Games could turn out to be a similar disgrace as the 2008 Olympic Summer Games in China – of which only the repressive system could benefit, not the civilian population!"

The STP tried to warn the IOC of the serious problems related to the venue of Sochi several times. In the 19th century, a bloody battle took place in Sochi: the Circassians had tried to fight the Russian predomination, but they were defeated and expelled from their homeland – which was a crime of genocide, according to leading historians.

Today, the descendants of the survivors are scattered all over the world. No political process of coming to terms with the past has taken place yet – so the Circassians see the Olympic Games in Sochi as another act of provocation that denies their history and culture. Russia has so far ignored the demands of the Circassians to commemorate the crimes appropriately, and has also tried to intimidate Circassian activists.

According to the latest report from the International Crisis Group (from September 6, 2013) the region of North Caucasus has the highest potential for violence in Europe. 1,225 people became victims of violence in 2012 alone. The Council of Europe has also regularly criticized torture, killings, disappearances, arbitrary arrests, violence against women and other human rights violations in the region.