Russia foils alleged plot to attack Sochi Games

MOSCOW - Agence France-Presse

Russian police officers check documents in Sochi in this July 2010 photo. AP photo

Russia said yesterday its security service had foiled an attempt by Caucasus militants assisted by its foe Georgia to attack the Black Sea city of Sochi when it hosts the 2014 Winter Olympic Games.

The Anti-Terror Committee (NAK) alleged the plot was masterminded by Doku Umarov, the shadowy Chechen militant Russia has repeatedly tried to kill, with assistance from the Georgia special services. It said Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) agents last week uncovered a cache of shoulder-launched missiles, explosives and grenade launchers in a plot that was based in the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia. Security officers from Russia and Abkhazia arrested three militants who are suspected of plotting attacks on Sochi, the Committee said.

“Russia’s FSB could establish that militants were planning to move these weapons to Sochi during 2012-2014 to use for terror acts during planning and hosting the Olympic Games,” said the statement, quoted by Russian news agencies. Russia and Georgia fought a brief war over Abkhazia and another breakaway region, South Ossetia, in 2008 and tensions have remained tense.