WASHINGTON – Security efforts throughout Russia intensified Monday after a pair of bombings killed more than 30 people about 400 miles from where the Winter Olympic Games are scheduled to open in just more than a month.
The bombings, which targeted a bus and the train station in the city of Volgograd, set off a flurry of activity in the Russian capital where President Vladimir Putin has vowed to guard Sochi, the Olympic host city, from terrorist incursions.
Putin Monday directed anti-terrorism forces to step up their activities across the country after conferring with Sergi Bozhenov, governor of the increasing volatile Volgograd region.
The White House, meanwhile, condemned the attacks, saying that the United States “stands in solidarity with the Russian people against terrorism.’’
“The U.S. government has offered our full support to the Russian government in security preparations for the Sochi Olympic Games, and we would welcome the opportunity for closer cooperation for the safety of the athletes, spectators and other participants,’’ National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said.
In the run-up to the Winter Games, a federal law enforcement official said the Russian government has sought increasing intelligence assistance from the U.S. government. The official, who is not authorized to comment publicly, did not detail the specific type of assistance.
Yet as the new security measures were being advanced, the Volgograd attacks underscored a long-standing concern in the run-up to the Winter Games: Two months ago, a Western security official with knowledge of the Russian Olympic security plan, told USA TODAY that there was fear that so many resources had been dispatched to lock down Sochi that other potential targets throughout the country, including transportation hubs, could be vulnerable.
The Russian government has streamed police and military forces into the region by the tens of thousands to guard the perimeter from potential attack.
Russia’s security plan for the Olympics has created a hardened boundary around the venues, stretching from Sochi’s Black Sea coast to the rugged Caucasus mountain range. But the vast security plan has siphoned assets from other parts of the country, leaving some locations potentially vulnerable, said the Western security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly.
For months, the U.S. State Department has warned residents attending the Sochi Games of the security risks, noting the potential danger that exists just more than 100 miles away from some of the mountain venues – where Chechen militant Doku Umarov has threatened to strike. In a video statement earlier this year, Umarov called on fellow rebels in the North Caucasus to disrupt the event.
That proximity, analysts say, represents Russia’s biggest challenge. And Ariel Cohen, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, said the Volgograd bombings marked an early “failure … on the eve of Sochi to provide security in major Russian cities.’’
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russians fought two wars with Chechen separatists before finally asserting control over the country. A authoritarian regime backed by Russia in Chechnya has since stabilized the country.
Juan Zarate, an analyst with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the separatist movement that began with the wars in Chechnya in the 1990s has “morphed” into a global jihadist movement.
The main terrorist group, the Caucasus Emirate, has been linked to al-Qaeda. Jihadists have used so-called “black widows,” women who have lost husbands in fighting the Russians, as suicide bombers. There were conflicting accounts from Russian authorities Monday about whether a woman detonated the bomb Sunday in the Volgograd train station.
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