Are Sochi and Putin Losing Control of the Narrative?

PHOTO: Russian president Vladimir Putin speaking during the 2013 G8 Summit. (courtesy Splash News, splashnews.com)

This can't be what the Russianswere hoping for when Sochi won the bid to host the 2014 Winter Olympics. The narrative they wanted would celebrate the debut of the new post Perestroika Russia that President Vladimir Putin created out of the ashes of the collapsed Soviet state.

Unfortunately, the narrative has gone much differently as a drum beat of public relations disasters have created tell a story very like the old Russia of intolerance, heavy handed policing and ineptitude.

The story began to unravel with a gratuitous attack on gay people by the Russian Duma and Putin himself; then came the reminder of Chechnyan terrorism when Volgograd(the former Stalingrad) was subjected to a terrorist attack and now, perhaps most damaging of all, are the first perceptions of the press corps and the athletes arriving in Sochi that are flat out ridiculing the host destination for the hotels still being worked on; the booked but unready rooms; the absurd viral internet image of the two-toilet stall; all this and the Games have yet to begin.

"The Russians have a great capacity for hospitality and yet, they also have a penchant for tone deafness," said Jennifer Eremeeva, the author of a newly released book "Lenin Lives Next Door: Marriage, Martinis, and Mayhem in Moscow." Eremeeva lived and worked in Russia for 20 years as a guide for General Tours and is married to a Russian.

According to Eremeeva, most of us need to look at the country and its people through a different lens if we're ever going to understand Russia. A xenophobic spirit came to Russia in the 1980s that she believes is used by Putin to reach the Russian people politically.

"Most outsiders see the moment of Perestroika (1986) as a great moment in the democratic progress of Russia, but Putin is the representative of a generation of Russians who came of age and into their professional powers just as the country was going through those events and they remember that time as one of chaos and uncertainty. Putin has established a sense of stability in Russia that most people there appreciate."

Alienating a powerful tourism base

Most of the international community doesn't appreciate the needless antagonism directed at the LGBT community. This past summer the Russian Duma and Putin signed into law regulations that will fine Russian residents who provide information to minors concerning the LGBT community.

At the time, a clearly embarrassed International Olympic Committee (IOC) felt compelled to issue a statement that said, "The IOC would like to reiterate our long commitment to non-discrimination against those taking part in the Olympic Games," the statement read, "the IOC is an open organization and athletes of all orientations will be welcome at the Games."

The laws posed a threat to any LGBT visitors to the games as they allow the government to arrest any foreigners, who exhibit gay or pro-gay behavior and to detain them for up to 14 days before expelling them from the country. Kissing, holding hands, t-shirts with pro-gay messaging and more would all be considered violations. Since then there have been an increase in reports of brutality against gay and lesbian Russians.

From the travel industry's very practical point of view, the combined spending of American and European LGBT travelers is estimated at about $132 billion annually. The new anti-gay legislation resulted in an immediate reaction.

An LGBT boycott launched a Facebook page and as the din grew louder from celebrities, athletes and the media s the media, Putin released 100 Greenpeace activists, the punk band Pussy Riot and billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

Even in damage control, Putin's tactic came off more like a releasing of hostages than a substantial change in policy.

PHOTO: The Iceberg Skating Palace will be one of many places that have over-the-top security to protect against terrorism threats. (courtesy Instagram)

How real is the terror threat?

The December terrorist bombing in Volgograd (the former Stalingrad) drew attention to the proximity of Sochi to Chechnya, especially when Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov called for new attacks against civilian targets in Russia, including the Sochi Games, which he characterized as "Satanic dances on the bones of our ancestors."

"In Russia," said Eremeeva, "it's called the 'Ring of Steel,' that is the area around Sochi completely protected by the Russian military against terrorism. That ring encircles the whole region including both the sea and the mountains. I'd be shocked if any terrorist activity will take place inside that ring." The ring has been described as a vast zone around Sochi that will be guarded by tens of thousands of soldiers, police and even security drones.

Still, the threat contributed to a U.S. State Department Alert that also warned that "the Olympics are the first large-scale event to be held in Sochi and medical capacity and infrastructure in the region are untested for handling the volume of visitors expected for the Olympics. Medical care in many Russian localities differs substantially from Western standards due to differing practices and approaches to primary care. Travelers should consider purchasing private medical evacuation and/or repatriation insurance."

How assuring when the State Department advises you take out insurance before you go.

PHOTO: The Olympic rings on display in Sochi. (courtesy Brian Morgan/Flickr)

Can Sochi still come out of this looking good?

Bad as all of that was, the last few days have seen the narrative head in a direction of ridicule that could undermine everything the Russians hoped to achieve in Sochi, the steady stream of images of hotels without light bulbs, unfinished construction and an inexplicable lack of preparation are treated comically the press.

Why the ineptitude? Eremeeva cites a long tradition in Russia of trying to build institutions quickly that need to be grown from the roots.

"Listen, Sochi is a very beautiful place, but it's not Innsbruck or Zermatt. Russia simply doesn't have the service culture of those places," Eremeeva said. "Those kinds of resorts grow organically out of locations and cultures. You can't just go and say, 'build me a world class resort.' It's the same outside of Moscow where they ordered up a Silicon Valley at Skolkovo. It just doesn't work like that."

Eremeeva tells the story of Catherine the Great's lover, Prince Grigory Potemkin, who was given a fortune from the Russian treasury by the Tzar-ess to build several expensive projects in order to improve life in Russia. Potemkin kept most of the money and built only show improvements, "like Hollywood sets, all front and no back. That two-toilet stall is widely understood as a contractor just throwing in another toilet to pad his bill. Just like Potemkin would do it."

"This parade of distress isn't doing Russia any good," said Bob Drumm, the president of General Tours World Traveler. "But if they can host an exciting event and some of these logistical issues work out this other stuff will fade into the background."

So where does Sochi tourism go from here? In 2013, Sochi attracted about 3.8 million tourists. When the Olympic torch goes out, Sochi will be left with about 50,000 hotel rooms, which should be completed by the end of the Olympics. Radisson, Park Inn, Golden Tulip, Pullman, Marriott, Swissotel and Capella will all put their incredible marketing muscle to the task.

When the IOC named Sochi as the site of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games it offered the prospect of Russian tourism to get beyond the dominant St. Petersburg/Moscow axis.

Sochi was described as the next St. Moritz and all of that international exposure would deliver new popular attractions in the Caucasus and even on the Black Sea.

For travelers, that would all be wonderful.

Jennifer Eremeeva writes two blogs on Russia: www.russialite.com and www.moscovore.com. Her book, "Lenin Lives Next Door: Marriage, Martinis, and Mayhem in Moscow" can be purchased from www.amazon.com, www.barnesandnoble.com, and through Lightning Print at bookstores.

Follow me on Twitter @JRuggia1.

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