Russia’s Olympic wall of security surrounds Sochi — As you drive towards Sochi along the road, you have to go through a huge concrete checkpoint in the tiny hamlet of Magri, around 60 miles (100 km) short of the city centre. For the duration of the Winter Olympics only vehicles registered in Sochi – and those with special permission – are being allowed through the checkpoint. We watched as every bus, truck, and car was thoroughly searched by police officers with sniffer dogs.

The checkpoint is being overseen by Russia’s internal security service, the FSB. Apart from the road, and the single railway line, Sochi is effectively cut off from the outside world. It is a long coastal strip bordered by the Caucasus Mountains to the north-east and the Black Sea to the south-west. The border crossing to Abkhazia – a region of Georgia which has declared independence – is shut to vehicles for the duration of the Games.

In the sea off the Olympic Park we spotted high-speed naval boats and a mysterious ship bristling with communications masts. Named “Seliger”, it was commissioned in December 2012 and was described at the time as a “deep-sea research vessel”. The mountains are being guarded by the Russian army. The Olympics are split between the “coastal cluster” of ice rinks by the Black Sea in the Sochi suburb of Adler, and the “mountain cluster” of skiing and sliding events at Krasnaya Polyana. […]