The Federal Bureau of Investigation is dispatching several dozen agents to Russia to help with security during the Sochi Winter Olympics, the FBI's head has announced.
FBI Director James Comey said Thursday that two dozen agents and other specialists will be based in Moscow, and another dozen in Sochi. His agency is working with Russian security services, as cooperation has improved amid terrorism threats surrounding the Games, Comey said, The Wall Street Journal reported.
While the FBI's personnel will be on hand to provide assistance, ensuring security at the Olympics is ultimately "a Russian responsibility," he said.
Comey credited Russian security forces with devoting "enormous resources and effort" to securing the Games, echoing the view pronounced earlier by former U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney and head of the U.S. delegation to Sochi Janet Napolitano that Russia is taking sufficient precautions to ensure a safe Olympics.
In another sign of increased cooperation, a private U.S. crisis-response firm that is assisting the U.S. ski and snowboard teams during the Olympics will have five aircraft on standby during the Games in the event that an emergency requires an evacuation, the firm, Global Rescue, said earlier this week.
Concerns about security in Sochi were heightened in the wake of two apparent suicide bombings that killed at least 34 people on Dec. 29 and 30 in Volgograd, 700 kilometers away.
