24 January 2008, 23:25
5,000 Russians demand choosing another place for sleigh-bobsleigh track in Sochi
On January 23, the Greenpeace delegation handed over to the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Lausanne lists with 5,000 signatures of the Russians who demand to transfer the Sochi Olympic sleigh-bobsleigh track to another place.
According to Mikhail Kreindlin, manager of the Greepeace's Project on Specially Protected Nature Areas in Russia, who is now in Lausanne, the delegation consisting of representatives of the Swiss and Russian Greenpeace branches had a meeting with IOC representative Michelle Lamaitres. Once again, the ecologists expressed their position and emphasized that the International Olympic Committee shall be completely responsible for the ecological reputation of the Olympic Games.
"We also transferred to the IOC signatures of 5,000 Russians collected by our colleagues from local ecological organizations under the appeal to the IOC with a demand to find some other place for the sleigh-bobsleigh track route away from the safety zone of the Caucasian Reserve," the RIA "Novosti" quotes the Greenpeace representative.
Mr Kreindlin has informed that the IOC representatives "understand the importance of the issue and promised to bring the demands of the ecologists and Russians to Jacque Rogge, President of the International Olympic Committee."
Earlier, Sergey Grigoriev, Vice-President of the State Corporation "Olympstroj", told the Agency that the ecologists and members of sports federations, who took part in the ecological roundtable, held in Sochi on January 22, have failed so far to agree on a new place for the Olympic sleigh-bobsleigh track.
