Russian leaders missed Sochi Olympics handover
None of Russia's top leaders have attended the closing ceremony of the Vancouver Olympics, when the responsibility for the next Winter Games will be handed over to Russia, which is scheduled to host the 2014 Olympics in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
Sochi organizing committee chief Dmitry Chernyshenko has confirmed that neither President Dmitry Medvedev nor Prime Minister Vladimir Putin would be at the February 28 closing ceremony in Vancouver.
Putin has expressed disappointment over the performance of Russian athletes in Vancouver, saying the country needs to figure out what went wrong in order to get better results in Sochi.
The Vancouver Games mark Russia's worst-ever result at an Olympics, with the country winning just 15 medals -- only three of them golds.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL)
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