Spotlight on Sochi security

The International Olympic Committee has dismissed the latest perceived terror scare to the Sochi Winter Olympics after several Olympic Associations said they had received a suspicious e-mail on Wednesday.

Federations from the United States, Britain, Italy, Germany, Hungary and Slovenia were among those that indicated they had received e-mails or letters with similar content, which were passed to the IOC security advisers for inspection.

In a swift reply, the IOC said: "We have been in close contact with Sochi 2014 on this matter and our line is as follows: the IOC takes security very seriously and passes on any credible information to the relevant security services.

"However, in this case it seems like the e-mail sent to a number of NOCs contains no threat and appears to be a random message from a member of the public."

US Olympic Committee chief executive Scott Blackmun said his group had received the message and forwarded it to law-enforcement agencies.

"The safety and security of Team USA is our top priority," he said in a statement.

"As is always the case, we are working with the US Department of State, the local organizers and the relevant law enforcement agencies in an effort to ensure that our delegation and other Americans traveling to Sochi are safe."

In Britain, the director of communications of the British Olympic Association, Darryl Seibel, confirmed it had received a suspicious e-mail but had been told by the IOC there was "nothing of substance" to it.

"In addition, we have had our own experts take a look at this and they have responded in exactly the same way by stating that this is nothing credible," said Seibel.

"Organizations like ours receive correspondence of every type and it is not uncommon to come across something like this that lacks credibility."

Experts on counterterrorism and Russian policy have said more new potential threats, and perhaps some hoaxes, will likely surface in the coming days, while Russian authorities continue to beef up security.

The Sochi resort is at the foot of the Caucasus mountains.

Islamist insurgents based in North Caucasus republics such as Dagestan are seeking their own independent state and have vowed to disrupt the Games in an effort to undermine Vladimir Putin, president of Russia.