Remember all those good laughs we had back when playboy/warlord Ramzan Kadyrov said he wanted to turn Chechnya into a destination ski resort?  Certainly the live fire conditions seemed like the ideal place to train Russia’s Olympic biathlon team…

Well now it appears that the Russian government is already throwing tens of millions of taxpayer dollars into the project, with European resort companies elbowing their way to the front the line to land the business.

Nicolas Sarkozy’s liaison to Russia Jean-Pierre Thomas tells RT that French companies are eager to take part in more than $15 billion to be invested in these ski resorts, and also offers many standard observations to score some points with his mark (ie – media coverage of Russia is “biased,” and the investment climate is “improving.”)

RT: On this visit you will go to the North Caucasus to evaluate its potential for investment. Does the alpine tourism expertise figure in your approach?

JPT: Yes, and I believe that Russia took a very good decision, which is the one to try to stabilize and ensure better security in this area through economic development. And both presidents, President Medvedev and President Sarkozy in Deauville, on the sides of the G8, made a joint declaration on this.