Public activists express distrust of commission on use of heritage of 2014 Olympic Games

In the Krasnodar Territory, the commission established under the regional administration to inspect the housing facilities of the Olympic heritage has held an inspection in Sochi. Officials have reported they will be able to prepare answers concerning only the use of housing facilities transferred to the balance of Sochi or the Krasnodar Territory. The fate of apartment houses and cottages remaining in the federal or departmental property remains unknown.

Earlier, the "Caucasian Knot" has reported that residents of the "Olympic" cottage village in Sochi claimed its derelict condition and misuse since 2011. In the spring of 2015, activists of the Sochi anticorruption coalition held a public inspection of the village of Vesyoloe Psou. Following the results of their inspection, the activists reported on the destruction of state property and the misuse of the houses built for Olympic settlers. The act with the results of the survey was sent to the President, State Duma deputies, and the public prosecutor.

On May 23, members of the public commission visited Sochi, where they inspected the houses in Vesyoloe Psou and Tavrichesky, the two villages designed for the Olympic settlers.

Igor Vasiliev, a member of the commission, addressed to the officials the following question: "Why no measures were taken to preserve the Olympic heritage and who will be responsible for the neglect attitude to the state property?"

The officials have explained that they were not competent to answer those questions. According to the officials, the above questions should have been addressed to the Olympic Department and State Corporation "Olimpstroy", which no longer exist.

"On the first day of the commission's work, we did not get answers to a lot of our questions. The commission is not competent to answer them, and members of the commission do not conceal that fact by referring to their colleagues and agencies, which do no longer exist. However, this fact does not address the problems mentioned in our appeal," said one of the activists Natalya Kalinovskaya.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.