Russia's Economic Development Minister German Gref has said power failures which plunged Sochi in southern Russia into darkness last week are not a threat to the city's 2014 Winter Olympics bid.
Mr Gref also pointed out that measures were being taken to make Sochi's power lines more resistant to extreme weather conditions.“I believe the situation with the power supply we just had in Sochi will not affect Russia’s chances with its Olympic bid. This blackout happened because of extreme weather conditions. There was a hurricane with wind speeds reaching 30 metres per second. Something like that doesn’t happen often, and it is obvious that there may be some problems under such circumstances,” Russia's Economic Development Minister stated.