Sochi's win affects St. Petersburg summer bid

The choice of the Russian city of Sochi to host the 2014 Winter Olympics effectively dashed St. Petersburg's aspirations to have the Summer Games two years later — so the mayor said Friday the city will seek them in 2020 instead.

MOSCOW — The choice of the Russian city of Sochi to host the 2014 Winter Olympics effectively dashed St. Petersburg's aspirations to have the Summer Games two years later — so the mayor said Friday the city will seek them in 2020 instead.
    Officials of Russia's second-largest city had been suggesting for several months that St. Petersburg would put in a bid for the 2016 Games if Sochi lost — but the International Olympic Committee on Wednesday chose the Black Sea resort as the winner over Salzburg, Austria, and Pyeongchang, South Korea.
    ''Of course, now we have no chance for 2016 because there is a rotation of continents. But we'll absolutely aspire for the next Olympics,'' St. Petersburg mayor Valentina Matviyenko said on the Ekho Moskvy radio station.
    The city bid for the 2004 Games, but didn't make the final cut.
    Also Friday, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, who has a tense relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, called the Russian leader to congratulate him on Sochi's win, a Kremlin statement said.
    ''Both sides expressed certainty that conducting such a massive event of world significance in southern Russia will have a beneficial effect on the whole region and will facilitate the strengthening of peace and mutual understanding in the Caucasus,'' the statement said.
    Georgia and Russia are at sharp odds over two separatist Georgian regions that get backing from Russia. One of the regions, Abkhazia, lies just a few kilometers from the area where the ice sports venues and main Olympic village are to be built.
    Russia last year cut transport links with Georgia following a dispute over Georgia's arrest of several alleged Russian spies, and earlier banned imports of Georgian wine.
    Saakashvili also has irritated the Kremlin by his strong Western orientation, including statements that he wants Georgia to join NATO and the European Union.

— The Associated Press