Doklad-Sochi-2014_EWNC-Eng

Sochi-2014: independent environmental reportan act of lawlessness. Carousel’s clients were not worried about conducting anenvironmental impact assessment, and in participating in the pouring of the cement,Gref, Trutnev, Kozak, and Tkachev publicly gave the go-ahead to carry outillegal activity.In this way, in violation of all conceivable legislative norms, but with high levelprotection, the Olympic ski adventure was carried out in Sochi.This high level of protection for the Olympic Games came from Russia’s PresidentVladimir Putin himself. The 2014 Olympic Games can be called “The Putinympics,”as the realization of this extremely expensive and environmentallydestructive project would not have been possible without his personal protection.The unique environment of the Western Caucasus, billions of dollars from thebudget, the interests of hundreds of thousands of residents of Sochi, and Russianenvironmental protection laws have all been squandered – all for the ambitionsand whims of one man.There is no doubt that this legacy will become Herostratus’ glory for Putin. Furthermore,what was conceived as a “triumph” has become an unprecedented orgyof corruption, arbitrariness, and legal nihilism. It turns out that any federal lawcan be “corrected” for a mega-project. In this sense, the Sochi Olympics has createda very dangerous precedent.Another disgrace of the Olympics in Sochi is the extremely negative role thatinternational institutions played in the Games’ preparation, in particular the InternationalOlympic Committee and the United Nations Environment Programme(UNEP). Their representatives–responsible for upholding the Olympic Charterand ensuring environmental protection-unfortunately shut their eyes to numerousviolations, were not objective, and failed to carry out their responsibilities.The international acquiescence of responsibility allowed the Russian governmentto organize and conduct this large-scale project to destroy the environment andunique ecosystems. The level of environmental damage of the Sochi project isunparalleled since the industrialization of the 1930s.3