Workers near the construction site of the Central Olympic (Fisht) Stadium in Sochi, Russia. The Central Stadium will host the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2014 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Migrant workers from Tajikistan who came to Sochi, Russia, to work in construction underway in advance of the 2014 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Migrant workers from Tajikistan who came to Sochi, Russia, to work in construction underway in advance of the 2014 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Migrant workers from Tajikistan who came to Sochi, Russia, to work in construction underway in advance of the 2014 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.

This migrant worker from Uzbekistan worked in Sochi on a shopping center construction site and was cheated out of two months' wages by his employer.

Construction of a church near the coastal cluster of Olympic venues and infrastructure along the Black Sea coast in the Adler section of Sochi.

Approximately 2,000 families were displaced and their homes destroyed to allow for construction of venues and infrastructure necessary for Russia to host the 2014 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Sochi. The process of …

In September 2012, Sergei Khlistov and his family, including two grandchildren, ages 3 and 8, were forcibly evicted and their home bulldozed as part of Russia's preparations to host the 2014 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. The …

Construction of 2014 Winter Olympic Games infrastructure on the site where the Khlistov's family home stood until it was demolished in September 2012. The family received no compensation for their home of 16 years.

Alexander Mzokov, 59, and his wife, who lived with their sons Yuri and Evgenii and eight of their relatives in a three-story home in Sochi, learned in April 2012 that the authorities would demolish their home of 13 years to make way …

Yuri and Evgenii Mzokov, who lived with ten of their relatives in a three-story home in Sochi, learned in April 2012 that the authorities would demolish their home of 13 years to make way for a road providing key transportation …

Local authorities evicted Valentina Volkova, a retired schoolteacher, and her children and grandchildren in August 2011 with only a few days' notice before demolishing the apartment building they lived in to make way for construction in …

Alexei Kravets stands next to a fence along his former property in Sochi, Russia. Kravets and his 13-year-old son were evicted, and their three-story seaside home of nine years was bulldozed in October 2012 to make way for railway …

Igor Kurochkin is one the few lawyers in Sochi willing to defend those who have been illegally evicted and whose homes were destroyed as part of Russia's preparations to host the 2014 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. Lack of …

A bridge over the Mzymta River along the newly-built 48-kilometer combined high speed railway and road links the coastal and mountain clusters of venues for the 2014 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Sochi, Russia. Experts …

An illegal dump site along the newly-built 48-kilometer combined high-speed railway and road linking the coastal and mountain clusters of venues hosting the 2014 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Sochi, Russia. Massive construction …

Construction of electrical lines as part of the infrastructure for the 2014 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games resulted in landslides in Chereshnya village in Sochi. The landslides have caused severe damage to houses, including …

Environmental activist Vladimir Kimaev observes new electrical wires constructed in the village of Chereshnya as part of Russia's preparations for the 2014 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Sochi.

A woman inside her damaged home in Chereshnya village in Sochi, Russia. A wall of the house collapsed following landslides caused by construction of electrical lines as part of Russia's preparations to host the 2014 Winter …

Aida Ogonyan with her and a neighbor's children inside a damaged home on Ternovaya Street in Chereshnya village, Sochi, where construction of electrical lines as infrastructure for the 2014 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games …

81-year-old Shushnik Karabadjakyan inside her damaged home in Chereshnya village in Sochi, Russia. Karabadjakyan has lived in the house for more than 40 years and has no other residence.

The Kaladjians' home has sunk more than 1.5 meters and is severely tilted to one side. The plumbing no longer works and family members have trouble sleeping due to the slope of the floors. The house is too dangerous to live in, but …

Anya Kaladjian inside her family's tilted, sunken home that has been severely damaged by a landslide apparently caused by illegal dumping of construction waste above Bakinskaya Street, in Veseloe, Sochi. Environmental experts …

Tatiana Skiba, stands in her tilted home that has been severely damaged by a landslide apparently caused by illegal dumping of construction waste above Bakinskaya Street, in Veseloe, Sochi. Environmental experts believe the nature of the …

Victor Kalinin, and Galina Kalinina, residents of Akhshtyr, a village located in the Caucasus Mountains between Adler and Krasnaya Polyana, Sochi. The heavy truck traffic along the road running directly above their …

A gravel quarry above Akhshtyr, a village located in the Caucasus Mountains just off the road to Krasnaya Polyana, Sochi. Huge dump trucks used in construction drive continuously, 24 hours a day, seven days a week through …

Huge dump trucks used in Olympic construction drive continuously, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, through Akhshtyr village to access two gravel quarries and a construction waste dump above the village. The heavy truck …

Children and other residents of Akhshtyr, a mountain village in Sochi, Russia, cross a wooden swinging footbridge over the Mzymta River. Russia has spent the equivalent of billions of dollars on venues and infrastructure to host the …

Residents of Kudepsta, Sochi, protest the proposed construction in their mountain village of what is projected to be the largest natural gas power station in the world. The plant is a component of infrastructure development in Sochi in …

A construction fence in Kudepsta, Sochi, surrounds the proposed site of what is projected to be the largest natural gas power station in the world. The plant is a component of infrastructure development in Sochi in advance of the …

A worker cuts trees at the site of the proposed power plant at Kudepsta, in Sochi.

Members of the Sochi branch of the Russian Geographical Society at work in their headquarters in Sochi, Russia. The Russian Geographical Society is Russia's oldest and one of its most respected scientific societies, founded in 1845 …

Members of the Russian Geographical Society's Sochi branch at work in the Caucasus Mountains in Sochi, Russia.

A scientist from the Russian Geographical Society's Sochi branch at work in the Caucasus Mountains in Sochi, Russia.

In May 2011, police arrested Irina Brovkina for organizing a one-person picket outside the Sochi mayor's office. Although a one-person protest does not require official permission, prosecutors charged her with organizing an …

Editors told Sochi journalist Olga Loginova that her reports on environmental damage, public protests, forced evictions, and other negative consequences of Russia's preparations for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games were "taboo topics." As …