Moscow to Tighten Security for World Athletics Championships Following Boston Blasts

Moscow are set to tighten security during this summer’s world athletics championships following the deadly Boston Marathon bombings.

The blasts left at least three people dead on Monday and 144 others injured, some critically, after a pair of powerful explosions ripped through a crowd near the finish line as the prestigious US race was still in progress.

Head of the All-Russian Athletics Federation, Vyacheslav Balakhnichev told R-Sport: “Naturally, tougher measures will be taken. We have high security anyway, but we will obviously draw conclusions from the incident in Boston.”

US authorities have launched a criminal investigation that they have also classified as a “potential terrorist investigation” Richard DesLauriers, a special agent with the FBI’s Boston Division, was cited by CNN as saying.

“Terrorists don’t choose any old target, but the more vulnerable areas from the security services’ point of view. Sports events that take place in the open air are harder to protect because (attacks) can happen anywhere,” Balakhnichev said.

The Russian capital has been rocked by major terrorist attacks over recent years including the 2010 Moscow subway suicide bombings that killed 40 people and the 2011 Domodedovo Airport suicide blast that killed 37 and injured more than 100.

The IAAF championships are to be held at Moscow’s iconic Luzhniki stadium from August 10-18.

Sochi 2014 Beefs Up Security

Sochi 2014 CEO, Dmitry Chernyshenko also made reassurances about the security and revealed it will be ‘safest in history’.

He said: “Those who will be at the Olympic Games in Sochi should know this: We will provide them with security.”

“The security system for the Games was devised with the participation of leading international experts. It conforms to the security demands of an event of this magnitude and has been repeatedly checked at test competitions and other events.”

Thursday will see the first games in the under-18 world hockey championships, the first test event for the Bolshoi Ice Dome and Shayba Arena, another dry-run for security operations ahead of the Olympics.

“We’ll test this system yet again so that the Olympic Games in Sochi become the safest in history,” Chernyshenko said.