[Editor’s introduction: Our Russia correspondent, the journalist Grigory Pasko, recently went on assignment to Sochi, the Black Sea resort city that has been slated to host the 2014 Olympic Winter Games. Sochi, which has always been a favorite vacation spot for Russians, has been declared a priority development zone by the government, and is currently being flooded with money – far from all of which actually gets spent as intended. The opportunities and likelihood for corruption in the Sochi infrastructure projects are unparalleled. Over the next few days, Grigory Pasko is going to offer our readers an exclusive series of direct reports about what’s really going on in Sochi these days.] Part I: Special Operation «Olympiad» By Grigory Pasko, journalist The Sochi airport building is a small one-floor affair, somewhat ghastly looking, not at all designed for spending any length of time in. And don’t even think about accessing the internet – there isn’t any. They announced that my flight would be delayed by seven hours – a perfectly normal occurrence for modern Russian aviation with its motley collection of small-fry airlines that don’t carry any liability whatsoever before passengers for their delays. To make a long story short, in my search for a comfortable place to work on my computer while I waited for my flight, I found myself in the airport’s VIP lounge. There was already a group of businessmen sitting there: they were having a heated discussion about the rosy prospects for business in Sochi. They were speaking loudly and were so engrossed in their conversation that it was impossible not to hear their every word.