Security personnel walk in the Olympic Park in the Coastal Cluster on January 9, 2014 in Alder, Russia.
The U.S. Olympic Committee and its counterparts in several other countries have received threatening emails in recent days, amid heightened safety concerns surrounding the Winter Games in Russia next month. But the International Olympic Committee was quick to dismiss the threats as not credible.
Scott Blackmun, the U.S. committee’s CEO, said in a statement that the email had been forwarded to authorities and that it was working to ensure Americans’ safety at the games in Sochi, which Russian authorities have turned into a virtual fort following terror fears and bombings in another city this month.
“As is always the case, we are working with the U.S. Department of State, the local organizers and the relevant law enforcement agencies in an effort to ensure that our delegation and other Americans traveling to Sochi are safe,” Blackmun said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week he was deploying a large security force to protect the games in response to a series of terrorist threats. But the IOC said the recent email threats don’t reflect real danger.
“The IOC takes security very seriously and passes on any credible information to the relevant security services,” the IOC said in a statement. “However, in this case it seems like the email sent to a number of NOCs (national Olympic Committees) contains no threat and appears to be a random message from a member of the public.”