Whitehall officials are warning that further terrorist attacks are very likely to take place in Sochi either before or during the Olympics, which begin next week. Imarat Kavkaz (IK) are said to pose the main danger as in July 2013 its fugitive leader, Emir Doku Umarov, called on his followers to do what they can to disrupt the Games.
However, a threat assessment by the BBC questions whether the group has the capability to target such a specific event within a narrow timeframe. Furthermore, Sochi would be far harder for terrorists to attack than the December bombing in Volgograd due to Russian military operations, with Russia pouring in over 37,000 extra troops and police and imposing a ring of steel around the Olympic venue, largely closing it off from public access. Authorities have also been hunting a suspected would-be suicide bomber named as Ruzanna Ibragimova, the 22-year old widow of a militant, whom it is feared could already be in Sochi and there are concerns too there could be up to three other female suicide bombers at large, known as black widows since they were reportedly married to slain insurgents.