RIA-Novosti Roundup -- No Snow Deficit for Sochi, Brazil-Style Protests for 2018 World

The slopes of Rosa Khutor last winter.No Snow Deficit for Sochi - Olympic Chief

The head of Russia's Olympic committee insists the country will have no snow deficit for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Russia has tried to calm fears that unseasonably warm weather could spoil the country's first Winter Games by hoarding and storing mounds of snow in huge refrigerated reservoirs.

"There will be no problems with snow," Alexander Zhukov said Saturday. "The Olympics in Sochi will go ahead in any weather. In the mountain region this year a certain reserve of snow has already been gathered," he said.

"I'm confident that we will be able to hold all the mountain disciplines."

Some test events including stages of the Cup of Russia Nordic combined event and the slopestyle disciplines of the freestyle World Cup, a new event in the Olympic program, had to be cancelled due to balmy temperatures this winter.

Some 450,000 cubic meters of snow lay in wait for deployment next February. Storage happens in seven special on-site reservoirs, the largest of which has a capacity of 100,000 cubic meters, at a cost of 250 million rubles ($8 million).

Published by exclusive arrangement with Around the Rings’ Sochi 2014 media partner RIA-Novosti.

Russian Government Targets Return to Olympic Elite

Russia's Sports Ministry announced ambitious targets to return the country to the Olympic elite Thursday, starting with a top-three medal table finish at its home Winter Olympics in Sochi next year.

In a five-year plan reminiscent of the Soviet sporting machine, the ministry also demands the same result at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

That means big improvements – Russia was 11th at the last Winter Olympics in Vancouver three years ago and fifth at London 2012.

The target is more demanding than aims previously set by Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko, who has said third place in Sochi would be outstanding, while Russian Olympic Committee head Alexander Zhukov is targeting a top-five result.

Published by exclusive arrangement with Around the Rings’ Sochi 2014 media partner RIA-Novosti.

Brazil-Style Unrest Unlikely at 2018 World Cup - Minister

Russia is unlikely to see the kind of unrest that has overshadowed the Confederations Cup in Brazil, Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko told R-Sport on Monday.

More than a million Brazilians have taken to the streets in recent weeks, clashing with police as they vent their anger at the amount of public money being spent on the Confederations Cup and the 2014 World Cup rather than on improving aging public services.

But the situation in Russia, which will host these events in 2017 and 2018, differs significantly because most of the $20 billion budget is being spenton upgrading infrastructure in host cities, Mutko said.

"We live in a democratic society and in the framework of democratic processes everything is possible," Mutko said. "We just need to anticipate and understand these things."

"But the development program is very well balanced. About 25 percent is being spent on the sporting side, and the rest is going on a program to modernize 11 regions of the country," he said.

"Transport, security, healthcare, airport upgrades, hotel construction, city infrastructure improvements - all of this is part of the program," Mutko said.

Russians should be further placated by the fact that just over $10 billion of the total budget is to come from state coffers - the rest from private sources, Mutko said.

"I don't think this will be some kind of huge burden on the state budget, but the effect will be colossal because this is investment in our own country."

He said that the protests in Brazil had been sparked by broader concerns, and that people had chosen to air their concerns at a time when their country is in the global spotlight. "These protests have a greater chance of being heard," he said.

Russia beat bids from England, Spain/Portugal and Belgium/Netherlands to win the hosting rights to the 2018 World Cup in December 2010.

It is staging the tournament in 12 stadiums in 11 cities, mostly confined to its European territory. A refurbished Luzhniki Stadium, the venue of the 1980 Moscow Olympics, will host the opening game, a semifinal and the final.

Published by exclusive arrangement with Around the Rings’ Sochi 2014 media partner RIA-Novosti.

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