17:29, 10 January 2014

Kozak: Sochi Olympic contractors will pay their debts to workers before January 14

Settlement Khosta in Sochi. Photo: Sergei Kazantsev, http://commons.wikimedia.org/

As of today, the Olympic contractors owe about two million roubles to their workers; however, all the debts will be paid out before January 14, said Dmitry Kozak, Russia's Vice-Premier, adding that during the Olympics Sochi will still keep over 30,000 non-resident workers.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on November 28 at the meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin dedicated to the preparation for the Olympiad, Mr Kozak promised to commission all the Olympic facilities, pay all the due wages to non-resident workers and take all of them out of the city.

Then, according to the Vice-Premier, in late December the salary debt was 277 million roubles; however, they managed to pay most of the debts during the New Year celebrations.

Let us remind you that on October 17 Roman Kuznetsov, a member of the team that was building the Olympic Media Centre, located in the coastal cluster, stitched up his mouth in protest against non-payment of his salary by the employer. In total, that contracting company had debts to a hundred workers, the builders said.

Human rights defenders from the Human Rights Watch have repeatedly stated violations of working migrants' rights, committed in Sochi during preparing the Olympiad, and noted human rights violations associated with alienation of property and resettlement of residents in order to clear the area for Olympic construction.