Hey, Are There Surveillance Cameras in Sochi Hotel Bathrooms?

Twitter has seized on the second paragraph of this Wall Street Journal story, in which Russian officials claim the quality of hotel rooms and other services in Sochi has been unfairly represented by the Western press:

Dmitry Kozak, the deputy prime minister responsible for the Olympic preparations, reflected the view held among many Russian officials that some Western visitors are deliberately trying to sabotage Sochi’s big debut out of bias against Russia. “We have surveillance video from the hotels that shows people turn on the shower, direct the nozzle at the wall and then leave the room for the whole day,” he said. An aide then pulled a reporter away before Mr. Kozak could be questioned further on surveillance in hotel rooms. “We’re doing a tour of the media center,” the aide said.

No further word on where those cameras might be placed to catch such underhanded activity.

Since arriving in Sochi a few days ago, journalists have been tweeting about lousy hotel room conditions in sometimes-unfinished buildings; much of the construction of accommodations fell by the wayside as Russia hurried to complete Olympic facilities, which were built from scratch.

“We’ve put 100,000 guests in rooms and only gotten 103 registered complaints and every one of those is being taken care of,” Kozak said later, refusing to detail the complaints.

The cost of the games has topped $51 billion, far dwarfing that of any previous Olympics.

[h/t Wall Street Journal]

[Image via Kevin Bishop]

——
>> Follow Evan McMurry (@evanmcmurry) on Twitter

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!