Suicide bomb attacks in the Russian city of Volgograd during the past 24 hours have added more urgency to security planning for NBCUniversal‘s small army of staffers heading to Sochi to cover the winter Olympics.
NBCU’s Olympics team was already on high alert given the political instability in Russia and surrounding regions. Suicide bomb attacks in a railway station on Sunday and on a trolley-bus on Monday morning have killed at least 31 people and injured scores more, according to the BBC.
“The safety and security of our employees and guests has always been our top priority,” an NBC Olympics spokesman said in a statement Monday. “We are taking every precaution to ensure their safety, including working with numerous domestic and international government security agencies on an ongoing basis.”
Situated along the Black Sea coast, Sochi is about 600 miles south of Volgograd.
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On Monday, Intl. Olympics Committee president Thomas Bach expressed his confidence in Russian topper Vladimir Putin and the nation’s ability to deliver a “safe and secure” event, which runs Feb. 7-23.
The National Security Agency on Monday issued a statement decrying the bombings and asserting that the U.S. would “welcome the opportunity for closer cooperation for the safety of the athletes, spectators and other participants.”
