The Associated Press reports a bill passed Wednesday by the upper house of Russia’s parliament called for fines up to $30,000 for anyone scalping tickets to the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games. The bill must now be signed into law by President Vladimir Putin.
For low-level scalping by individuals the fine would be five to 10 times the ticket’s face value, but penalties would be heavier for those using scalping as a business.
Russian Olympic Committee head Alexander Zhukov told a news conference that “we as Olympic organizers have an obligation under our contract with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to prevent speculative price hikes for hotels and Olympic tickets”.
Zhukov added there will be price limits for rooms in each hotel category.
Meanwhile President Putin ordered the emergencies ministry to check Sochi 2014 Olympic sites following a string of earthquakes.
Interfax reports Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, “the President ordered the emergencies ministry to pay close attention to the shocks in Sochi and other cities. He asked that special attention is paid to construction sites to make sure they suffer no damage”.
Since December 10 three earthquakes have been felt in Sochi. Authorities say they caused no damage, but were concerned due to ongoing construction of Sochi 2014 venues.
