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Emergencies Ministry ready for 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics - Puchkov

The surprise inspection highlighted demand for certain types of equipment, gear and technologies to be met over several months to come

Photo ITAR-TASS

Photo ITAR-TASS

ROSTOV-ON-DON, July 20 (Itar-Tass) - Russia’s Emergency Situations Minster Vladimir Puchkov has put to test the ability of the ministry’s forces in the Southern Federal District to provide an adequate response to hypothetical emergencies to say afterwards he was quite pleased with how his subordinates were prepared for the forthcoming Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014.

On Friday, a group of top Emergency Situations Ministry officials, while returning to Moscow after a working trip to Chechnya, made a sudden decision to make an unscheduled stopover in the Rostov Region. All inspection plans had been kept secret up to the very last moment.

“An alert was announced for all control centers and forces of the Southern Regional Center, rescue groups and airborne units,” Puchkov said.

The surprise inspection highlighted demand for certain types of equipment, gear and technologies to be met over several months to come.

In Sochi, the Emergency Situations Ministry personnel practice safety operations and measures at Olympic facilities on a regular basis.

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