Russia’s athletes will be safe at the Olympic Games in London despite the lack of cooperation between the two countries’ security services, Pavel Kolobkov, the head of the Russian Olympic delegation told RIA Novosti on Friday.
The head of Russia’s Federal Security Service, Alexander Bortnikov, claimed Thursday that the athletes were at risk because of the British security services’ refusal to cooperate with their Russian counterparts.
Britain cut links with Russia's Federal Security Service in protest at the country's refusal to extradite the main suspect in the 2006 poisoning death of former Russian security officer Alexander Litvinenko in London.
“I think that all safety measures will be taken and everything will turn out well and everything will be in order,” Kolobkov said.
Cooperation between Britain and the Federal Security Service would nevertheless be helpful, he said.
“For us it would be preferable, it would be desirable that this cooperation took place.”
The British Foreign Secretary William Hague visited Moscow last week and discussed Olympic cooperation with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, though no mention was made about security for the Games.
Lavrov made vague promises that the two sides would cooperate on Olympic security at a news conference with Hague during a trip to Britain in February 2011.
