Putin brings leopards back to Caucasus

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin released two leopards into the wild in a bid to revive the fortunes of the rare cats in the Caucasus and soothe ecological worries over 2014 Sochi Games.

Caucasian or Persian leopards disappeared from the Caucasus in the 1920s due to excessive hunting. Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov sent two male leopards caught in Turkmenistan by plane to Sochi. Female leopards are to follow.

"We are standing here and admiring your animals. Glorious animals, very beautiful," Mr Putin, surrounded by International Olympic Committee members, told Mr Berdymukhamedov by telephone as he stood by the cage in the Sochi national park.

Russia won the right to host the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi and major construction works are about to begin.

Critics say huge construction projects may harm the environment. They question the need for spending billions of dollars on the games during a financial crisis and say they do not believe all the infrastructure would be ready by 2014.