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Sochi Olympic Terror Threat: Militants Promise “Present”

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Russian President Vladimir Putin promised that
Russian President Vladimir Putin promised that
A new video posted on a Chechen extremist website is promising a new “surprise package” for Russia and Olympic spectators, according to reports. According to CNN, Islamist militants in the North Caucasus issued a threat to the Sochi Olympics on Sunday, January 19, 2014, with what appears to be a “martyrdom” video by two suicide bombers who allegedly attacked a transit hub 400 miles away.

The video featured two unidentified men dressed casually in black street clothes and standing in front of a black banner with religious verse that is typically associated with Islamist extremists. The men were holding AKMS rifles in the video, according to ABC News.

The two men in the video said that Russians and other attendees of next month’s Winter Games in Sochi, Russia will not be safe so long as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces occupy the North Caucasus region near the event site.

“We’ll have a surprise package for you,” one of the men said in the video. “And those tourists that will come to you, for them, too, we have a surprise. If it happens [the Olympics], we’ll have a surprise for you. This is for all the Muslim blood that is shed every day around the world, be it in Afghanistan, Somalia, Syria, all around the world. This will be our revenge.”

The video, which was posted online overnight, showed security camera and news footage of the two back-to-back suicide bomb blasts late last month at a busy train station and a commuter trolley in Volgograd, the major transit hub in Russia. According to the Chicago Tribune, 34 people were killed in those attacks.

U.S. officials are reportedly studying the video.

“It’s a very serious fear,” Senator Angus King of Maine, told CNN’s State of the Union Sunday, when discussing the possibility of a terror attack at the Winter Games.

Meanwhile, Putin acknowledged that the Games could be a target for terrorists, as does any high-profile event. But, according to CNN, he insisted that Russia has a “perfect understanding” of the threat and how to stop it.

Still, U.S. intelligence officials are taking the threats seriously, saying that they would take any threat from the Islamic terror groups against the Olympics to be very serious. The video threat has led to what CNN has deemed an “unusually strong travel advisory” to be issued by the State Department this week for Americans who plan to travel to Sochi for the Olympics.

“I think the threats are real. [Islamist Chechen leader Doku] Umarov basically called for attacks on the Olympics,” House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Texas, told ABC News’ “This Week” today. “I think you’re going to see attempts to do that. I think it’s more likely that the attacks will happen outside the perimeter, more soft targets, transportation nodes.”

Wanted posters of a terrorism suspect on the loose, warships at the ready and a video threat from beyond the grave.

Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed that his country has stepped up security and is prepared to handle any threats.

Police in Sochi have handed out fliers at area hotels warning of a woman they believe could be a terrorist and who may currently be in the city.

One flier, obtained by CNN, asks workers to be on the lookout for Ruzanna “Salima” Ibragimova, described as the widow of a member of a militant group from the Caucasus region.

The woman, according to the flier, may be involved in organizing “a terrorist act within the 2014 Olympic region.”

There will be small armed teams of U.S. security personnel allowed to be in Sochi, but the Russians are very much running their own show, in their own way, and apparently don’t see any need to let U.S. security personnel in on every plan or piece of intelligence. U.S. officials said they are concerned that if they complain too much, the Russians could restrict even more the number of armed U.S. personnel allowed to be in the country.

Still, Putin has promised that “we will try to make certain that the security measures are not intrusive or too conspicuous, so they are not too noticeable for the athletes, the Olympics’ guests or journalists,” according to a CNN interview transcript.

“But at the same time, we will do our utmost to ensure that they are effective.”

Russia is well-versed in maintaining security at high-profile international events, Putin reminded viewers, citing the G8 and G20 summits as examples.

“Security is to be ensured by some 40,000 law enforcement and special services officers,” he said.

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