Putin Directs Organizers of 2014 Winter Olympics to Protect Wilderness

MOSCOW, July 3 -- Prime Minister Vladimir Putin Thursday ordered organizers of the 2014 Winter Olympics to relocate a number of planned facilities, including the bobsled track and a village for athletes, away from protected wilderness.

Greenpeace, the World Wildlife Fund and other environmental groups had objected that some of the proposed construction near the Russian resort of Sochi, which won the Games last year, would take place right on the border of a U.N.-designated World Heritage Site. The facilities would damage local wildlife and plants and open up a pristine area in the Caucasus mountains to further development, the groups contended.

Greenpeace proposed a series of alternative sites in the mountains above the Black Sea resort, but federal officials and local organizers rejected their suggestions as impractical.

"In setting our priorities and choosing between money and the environment, we're choosing the environment," said Putin during a meeting in Sochi with Jean-Claude Killy, chairman of the International Olympic Committee's coordinating commission for the 2014 Games. "If the balance of nature is upset, this could lead to a situation that would be impossible to restore for any money."

Putin's intervention recalled his decision in 2006 to order the relocation of a Siberian pipeline that environmental groups said threatened Lake Baikal, the world's most voluminous fresh-water lake. Thursday's unexpected move was another reminder of the former president's continuing power and ability to sweep aside the long-held plans of officials.

"The first Olympic victory goes to nature in the Caucasus," the World Wildlife Fund said in an statement.

The 2014 Olympics are something of a personal project for Putin who personally lobbied the IOC to award the games to Russia.

The sudden change, however, may heighten concerns that Sochi, which lacks even basic infrastructure and doesn't have a single Olympic-quality stadium, will struggle to get the area ready in time for the Games.

Russia is planning to spend at least $12 billion on the Olympics and some officials have suggested that the final costs could be twice that. Putin's decision could add another six months to preparations, officials said.

"You can't lose a single day because there's a lot of work to be done compared with previous Winter Games," Killy told reporters Thursday.