Georgian National Olympic Committee (GNOC) has requested the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to review plans of holding Winter Olympic Games in Sochi in 2014.

A letter to IOC President Jacques Rogge, signed by newly elected President of GNOC, Gia Natsvlishvili, and sixteen Georgian Olympic champions, says that holding of Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, about 40 kilometers away from breakaway Abkhazia, would pose “unprecedented security risk.”

“Holding the Olympic Games on this territory — adjacent both to the occupied Abkhaz conflict zone, and to the extremely unstable and volatile North Caucasus — will endanger the lives of participating sportsmen and sportswomen and undermine the image of the world’s premier sporting event,” the letter reads.

Officials from the GNOC said they planned to raise the issue at the meeting of the European Olympic Committee in Istanbul on November 20-21.

“Given the present state of affairs, the Olympic Committee of Georgia and Georgian Olympians petition you to reconsider whether it is plausible to hold the XXII Winter Olympic Games on the territory of a country that undertook a full-scale military invasion of a neighboring sovereign state and that continues to occupy its territories,” the letter reads.

An official from the Russian Foreign Ministry told Interfax news agency on November 21, that Georgia’s intention to raise the issue was an attempt “to politicize the matter.”

Back in 2007, Georgia supported Russia’s bid to host the Olympic Games. At that time President Saakashvili expressed his “whole-hearted support” towards the Russian bid and said in July, 2007 that the Olympic Games would help to promote stability, peace and understanding between the nations in the Caucasus.