Sochi Olympics cost $51 billion

Putin has reduced the price of vodka for them:

Thread: Russia cuts vodka prices

Dr Martin Müller of the University of Birmingham finds that:

* The Sochi Games cost $16bn in sports-related expenditure alone - more than twice the official figure of $7bn
* Total costs, including capital costs, amount to $55bn
* Sochi is the most expensive Olympics ever in terms of cost per event and the second most expensive, after London, in terms of sports-related costs
* Russia's goal of developing Sochi into a global resort has failed
* $1.2bn per year of follow-up investment is required to maintain the underused infrastructure (including transport networks, sporting venues and hotels)
* Public opinion towards the Sochi Games and Russia as host has deteriorated over time

Dr Müller said: 'The two most striking results from this study are, firstly, that when everything is accounted for, just the sports-related costs of the Sochi Games amount to $16bn - more than twice the official figure - and, secondly, that more than a billion dollars per year is still required to maintain the barely used infrastructure and subsidise the tourist industry.

'The main legacy of the Games is oversized infrastructure at inflated prices, paid for almost exclusively by the public. While this applies to many mega-events elsewhere - particularly in developing economies - the extent of expenditure and underutilisation in Russia is unparalleled.

'When counting all the costs associated with the Sochi Winter Olympics - including upgrades of the general infrastructure - we arrive at the stunning figure of $55bn. That's more than 10% of the annual federal budget of Russia.'

[link to phys.org]

A year ago, the jump bustled with activity at the Sochi Olympics. But it made unwanted history as well, becoming a symbol of how some of the plans for President Vladimir Putin's $51 billion Winter Games went terribly wrong.

The cost of the facility soared from $40 million to nearly $300 million — an overrun that caused the businessman involved to flee a corruption investigation.

Two key investors have unloaded properties built for the Olympics at a combined cost of $3 billion, a spokesman to Russia's deputy prime minister confirmed to The Associated Press. The issue is a major headache for Putin, who needs to pay off the oligarchs to keep them happy, while preventing the deals from triggering popular unrest.

"They don't have any good options here," Sam Greene, director of King's Russia Institute at King's College London, said of the Kremlin. "They either have to take the public hit, or they have to take the opposition of the oligarchs."

For now, Greene said a tacit understanding appears to be emerging between Putin and the oligarchs.

"The government will help the titans of the economy," he said. "In return for that, they remain quiet, they remain loyal."

The ski jump and nearby ski resort became a notorious example of Sochi's excesses in 2013 when Putin visited the construction site and dressed down officials for allowing tycoon Akhmed Bilalov to incur massive cost overruns: "Well done!" Putin burst out with sarcasm. "You're doing a good job!"

Bilalov fled Russia days later, after prosecutors launched a corruption investigation into the ballooning costs. His case has not yet reached court, and he remains in exile in an unknown country.

Sberbank, which is Russia's largest bank and is run by close Putin ally German Gref, stepped in to buy the ski jump and resort at the government's request. It took out a $1.7 billion loan to fund more than 70 percent of the project. Today, the project loses money and the bank remains saddled with the debt.
[link to my.chicagotribune.com]

Well done Putin! Screw Russians and save the oligarchs!

Panama Papers: Putin associates linked to 'money laundering'

Sunbarn also received loans totalling $231m (£162m) from companies owned by or linked to another childhood friend of the Russian president - the billionaire Arkady Rotenberg. Once again, there was no security for the loans and no evidence of any repayment.

Around the time the loans were made to Sunbarn, one of Mr Rotenberg's companies was awarded a lucrative contract to work on a $40bn (£28bn) gas pipeline from Russia to Europe. The South Stream gas project has since been cancelled.

Bank Rossiya, Sergey Roldugin and Arkady Rotenberg have not responded to the questions put to them by the BBC.
[link to www.bbc.co.uk]

Every Olympic game is waste of money. Why in the hell we have to compete with each other.

There are no people starving in russia, they don´t even need to live on foodstamps.
The yeltsin years are over, where western bandits plundered russia and the people were starving.

I can't think of any city that has ever benefited from the expenditures of having an Olympic city built.

It's like spending $55 billion on a prom dress you are never going to wear again.

Why do countries try so hard to "win" the right to host?
Maybe after Brazil crashes and burns over it, that will be the end of that and a country can just use the different venues they already have throughout the country, if they have to.

Let's nuke Russia for spending too much on the Olympics!

USA! USA! USA!

is sochi like athens cursed