Chuck Hagel says US can evacuate Americans from Sochi if necessary
| Washington
罢丑别听聽will have "appropriate arrangements" with聽聽to ensure the evacuation of Americans from the聽Sochi聽Winter Olympics, if necessary, Defense Secretary聽聽said on Friday, amid militant threats to attack the Games.
Russian security forces are hunting a woman suspected of planning a suicide bombing and of being in聽厂辞肠丑颈听already and US officials acknowledged on Friday an increase in reported threats ahead of the Games.
The US military has said two ships will be deployed to the聽聽during the Winter Olympics and the聽聽has also made clear it is willing to assist聽, if needed.
Still, it is far from clear that聽聽would allow US military assets into its territory following a security incident, and聽聽has made no request for US security assistance so far.
Asked about the matter at a聽聽news conference, Hagel said only that proper arrangements would be in place, without saying specifically who might do the evacuating.
"If we need to extract our citizens, we will have appropriate arrangements with the Russians to do this," Hagel said.
聽officials later clarified that although the US military can be an option for evacuations, US citizens can be evacuated on commercial or even charter flights and that聽聽had primary responsibility to respond to and cope with any incident during the Games.
The officials, speaking in a conference call with reporters, also said the聽聽did not yet have a firm evacuation plan for Americans, although it could put one together quickly if needed.
"There's no聽Sochi聽Olympics evacuation plan on the shelf that we're just ready to pull off," one official said.
After two suicide bombings killed 34 people in the southern city of聽聽last month,聽聽has been keen to assure athletes and spectators that the Olympics in聽Sochi, in the turbulent聽聽region, will be safe.
Russian President聽聽has staked his political reputation on organizing a successful Olympics and has tightened security nationwide. Security at the Olympics came up in a call between Putin and US President聽聽this week.
Some 230 American athletes are expected at the Games, along with 270 coaches and support staff for the American team. A five person US delegation led by聽, a former secretary of Homeland Security, will head to聽Sochi聽and as many as 10,000 American spectators are expected to attend the Games.
Although the US officials said there had been an increase in the number of threats being reported in the run-up to the Games, one official noted that was not "entirely unusual" ahead of a major international event.
The officials said there will be American diplomatic security agents accompanying US athletes at all the venues.
Athletes have been advised not to wear American Olympic uniforms outside of the event site.
"It's just good common sense," one official said.
Additional reporting by David Alexander
