SOCHI, Russia (AP) - A year before the 2014 Winter Olympics are to begin, President Vladimir Putin has demanded a senior member of the Russian Olympic Committee be fired, apparently due to cost overruns in host city Sochi - a demand certain to be fulfilled.
The current price tag for the Sochi Games is $51 billion, which would make them the most expensive games in the history of the Olympics - more costly even than the much-larger Summer Olympics held in London and Beijing.
The games at the Black Sea resort of Sochi are considered a matter of national pride and one of Putin's top priorities.
The Russian president's decision came after he scolded officials over a two-year delay and huge cost overruns in the construction of the Sochi ski jump facilities. The official facing dismissal, Akmet Bilalov, had a company that was building the ski jump and its adjacent facilities before selling its stake to state-owned Sberbank last year.
During his tour of Olympic venues, Putin fumed when he heard the cost of the ski jump had soared from $40 million to $265 million and the project was behind schedule.
"So a vice president of the Olympic Committee is dragging down the entire construction? Well done! You are doing a good job," Putin said Wednesday, seething with sarcasm.
Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak told reporters Thursday that Putin had recommended the Russian Olympic Committee fire Bilalov, one of its six vice presidents.
"As far as Bilalov is concerned the president voiced his decision yesterday: People who don't make good on their obligations at such a scale cannot head the Olympic movement in our country," he said.
The Russian Olympic Committee said in a statement that a decision on Bilalov would be made by the executive committee in the near future, a move likely to be only a formality. Putin's power in Russia is such that resisting the call for his dismissal would be almost unthinkable.
Kozak underscored that by saying, "I very much hope that our Olympic movement will listen to the recommendations of the country's leadership."
Most countries that host the Olympics use public funds to pay for most of the construction of the sports venues and new infrastructure such as roads and trains. The Russian government, however, has gotten state-controlled companies and tycoons to foot more than half of the bill.
Both the companies and the tycoons understand the importance of maintaining good relations with Putin, who has a lot of prestige riding on the success of the Sochi games.
Kozak said the costs constantly increased for the ski jump project because Bilalov's company did not properly check the land and, as a result, picked a geologically challenging plot.