Russia foils alleged plot to attack Sochi Olympics

[...] Russia's secret service said Thursday, May 10, 2012, that it had foiled terror attack plans in the Black Sea resort of Sochi ahead of the 2014 Winter Games. The FSB said it suspects the attacks were being masterminded by Doku Umarov. The FSB also said that it suspects that Umarov has close links to the secret service in Georgia. (AP Photo)

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian authorities said on Thursday that security agencies had foiled a plot by Islamic militants to attack the 2014 Winter Olympics in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, an area they consider part of their historical homeland.

Russia's National Anti-Terrorism Committee NAC.L said the special services had confiscated arms, ammunition and explosives - including surface-to-air missiles and a flamethrower - in the breakaway Abkhazia region of Georgia, the South Caucasus country with which Russia went to war in 2008.

Any security breach around the games could be embarrassing for President Vladimir Putin, who has taken a personal interest in the event and hopes it can be used to boost Russia's image.

Abkhazia, which Russia recognised as an independent nation after the war, is adjacent to Sochi on the Black Sea coast. The assailants had also planned attacks in the runup to the games in February 2014, it said.

"Russia's FSB (security service) was able to establish that the fighters planned to move the weapons to Sochi from 2012 to 2014 and use them to carry out terrorist acts before and during the Olympic Games," NAC said in a statement.

The NAC blamed the plot on the Caucasus Emirate, one of the leading groups in an insurgency against Russian rule in the volatile North Caucasus, where Russian troops have fought two wars in Chechnya since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

It suggested the group's leader, Doku Umarov, had been cooperating with Georgian special services but did not give any details to support this allegation and the NAC report could not be independently verified.

Russia has often said Georgia may be plotting further aggression following the war, an accusation Georgia rejects.

NAC said the weapons included Igla and Strela portable surface-to-air missiles, two anti-tank guided missiles and 36 mortar bombs as well as a flame thrower, grenade launchers, explosive devices, and anti-tank and anti-personnel mines.

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