The leader of an Islamist insurgency in Russia's North Caucasus region urged followers on Wednesday to use "maximum force" to prevent President Vladimir Putin staging the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.
The Russian government and security services will overcome security threats and can guarantee safety at the 2014 Winter Olympics in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said.
A suicide bomber blew himself up in a police station on Monday killing two policemen and wounding 13 others in Russia's volatile Muslim-dominated north Caucasus region of Ingushetia, bordering insurgency-hit Chechnya.
... and there is no stopping its pan-Islamic agenda, cautions Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Austria's Olympic Committee received a letter threatening to kidnap two Austrian athletes at the Games that start this week in Sochi, Russia, the Austria Press Agency reported on Tuesday, citing national committee head Peter Mennel.
Two men said by Islamist militants to have carried out suicide attacks in south Russia appeared in a video donning explosive belts and warning Vladimir Putin to expect a "present" at the Sochi Winter Olympics from fighters following after them.
Athletes heading to the Sochi Winter Olympics have been warned not to wear team kit with large logos promoting their country on their way to Russia due to security concerns, British Olympic officials said on Thursday.
Triggering angry criticism from the West and even calls to boycott the Sochi games, Russia adopted in June a ban on homosexual "propaganda" among minors, a law denounced by critics as discriminatory and aimed at stifling dissent.
Six people were killed in an explosion in the Russian Caucasus city of Vladikavkaz in North Ossetia. Russia has been grappling with a Muslim insurgency in the North Caucasus.
The Sochi Winter Olympics are meant to be Vladimir Putin's crowning achievement as Russian leader but are in danger of becoming a symbol of his country's problems.
Ultra-nationalist and schooled in their country's historical grievances, Russian soccer hooligans see themselves as fighting the Kremlin's geopolitical battles in miniature when they clash with foreign fans at the Euro 2016 tournament.
Unless the Taliban goofs up in a big way, which seems highly unlikely, we are looking at a regime that will be around for quite a long while and present a level of governance that the puppets of the richest and most advanced countries failed to provide, predicts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
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