With the Twitter hashtag “#SochiProblems” trending worldwide, the Russian President is expressing concerns about the state of non-Olympic facilities, facilities that were supposed to ensure that the infrastructure built for the Olympics is properly utilized afterwards. — Ed.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is concerned about construction in Sochi that is not related to the Olympic facilities, and requests that the public council in charge of preparations for the Olympics takes up that issue.
“The Olympic facilities were built according to a single plan, and therefore everything was done according to the highest world standards – both in terms of quality, and geographical distribution of facilities, – but speaking about the city itself, with regard to the environment, the public council together with the city administration need to think about these issues,” Putin said at a meeting with members of the council.
“I do not think it has got much better. Quite the opposite, when I speak with citizens, they say, when will you finally stop all this construction, which is chaotic and somewhat meaningless, because they can’t sell even half of what they’re building?” said the president.
According to him, it is necessary to make sure the city has sufficient social infrastructure, and that the population can live in these apartments.
“I’m not entirely sure that all this meets the required standards,” said the president.
Noting that he had already expressed concern about this issue to the mayor of Sochi and conveyed citizens’ views, Putin stressed: “It is imperative that it is given due consideration, and if there is a public council, it must participate in addressing these issues.”