By Duncan Mackay

Security forces guarding Sochi 2014November 3 - Russian President Vladimir Putin today signed new legislation which approves a series of strict counter-terrorism laws ahead of Sochi 2014.


The Olympics and Paralympics, which are due to open on February 7, will take place just a few hundred miles from the North Caucus region where rebels are fighting to install an Islamic state.

Moscow has cracked down on the militants, who are based in Dagestan, but a recent suicide bombing at a bus stop in the southern Russian city of Volgograd on October 21 heightened security fears ahead of the Games.

The attack killed five people and injured another 32, eight critically.

Though the explosion was some 400 miles from the North Caucus region, it was blamed on a 30-year-old woman from Dagestan, Naida Aiyalova.

A terrorist attack in Volgograd last month, which killed five people, has raised fresh fears about security at Sochi 2014A terrorist attack in Volgograd last month, which killed five people, has raised fresh fears about security at Sochi 2014

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing, spent the first half of last year living in Dagestan.

The new law could oblige relatives and acquaintances of militants to pay for damage caused by terrorist attacks in southern Russia.

According to the Kremlin's legal website, Putin signed legislation over the weekend that imposes prison terms of up to 10 years for those who receive training "aimed at carrying out terrorist activity".

The legislation says "compensation for damage...caused as a result of a terrorist act is covered...with the means of the person that committed a terrorist act, and also the means of close relatives, relatives and close acquaintances."

Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) assured new IOC chief Thomas Bach (right) last week that the Olympics and Paralympics in Sochi next year would be safeRussian President Vladimir Putin (left) assured new IOC chief Thomas Bach (right) last week that the Olympics and Paralympics in Sochi next year would be safe

The law also allows for the seizure of property of relatives and close acquaintances of suspected militants.

The law submitted by Putin in September that includes measures to criminalise training in terrorist camps was approved by the country's Duma last month.

Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev told the Duma that authorities were receiving "alarming information" and were working to eliminate leaders and members of armed groups.

"There are simply no other ways to combat these inhuman monsters," he said.

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