A Roving View of Putin's Olympics

All photos by Arthur Bondar and Oksana Yushko

Flying over Sochi, we saw a beautiful panorama of the region. The Olympic Games here have been a pet project of Vladimir Putin’s since their proposal, and the Russian government has done its all to make the venues and surrounding countryside some of the most memorable in Olympic history.

The drastic transformation of Sochi has not been without controversy. It was inevitable that the area would be heavily guarded and protected against terrorists, but the sheer quantity of checkpoints, police patrols, and special forces really surprised us. Meanwhile, the green gardens in the center of the city have partially given way to concrete plazas and glass skyscrapers. Many lambast the Russian government for these changes, while others truly believe that these developments will put this region and Russia in the right direction.

There is no single truth. The people who live here are optimists. They lived through four years of ear-splitting construction sites, infuriating traffic jams, and omnipresent “Pardon Our Dust” signs. Now, they believe they will reap the rewards of all that inconvenience. Foreigners who come here describe Sochi as a “nice city,” but we see how the mass media tell their own truths, depending on the nationalities of their audiences. Visiting shelters for stray dogs, talking with homosexuals, and examining the suffering environment, we hope that the government will seek solutions to the most recurrent issues in the headlines.

The only thing we can conclude for certain is that a city is its people, and Sochi’s people are much to its credit. As guests here, we have enjoyed a wealth of local hospitality and friendship.

And while we are not big sport fans, we hope those who saw the Games’ opening ceremony would remember the beautiful music by Sviridov and Tchaikovsky, would want to read Tolstoy, and would want to visit our Russia one day.