15:28, 8 January 2014

Vladimir Kimaev: atmosphere in Sochi is not festive

The tight security measures in Sochi kill the festive atmosphere in anticipation of the Winter Olympic Games, said Vladimir Kimaev, the leader of the regional branch of the "Yabloko" Party.

More than 30,000 policemen and soldiers from the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) have actually blocked Sochi – a "strange gift for the Christmas," which demonstrates that "terrorists have already managed to dampen the festive moods," while the special security regime is, in fact, "not much different from a state of war," the "Inopressa" writes with reference to the American Time magazine.

In confirmation, the magazine quotes Vladimir Kimaev, a Sochi resident and the leader of the local branch of the "Yabloko" Party, who last October was one of the organizers of the Moscow campaign in defence of the Akhshtyr Quarry, and in late December, he took part in the picket held in Sochi in support of Evgeny Vitishko.

"The atmosphere here is surely not festive. One feels a desire to live through the event in some other place and then return to normal life. Of course, we are tired; everybody is tired. But people understand that these measures are justified. A threat is real, and we just have to endure for a few more months," says Kimaev.