A new report has called for a "comprehensive assessment" of the effect that preparations for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics are having on the local environment.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) set out a number of recommendations following a second expert mission between 28-30 January, which included visits to a number of "sensitive" sites. Sochi's Olympic Village and Biathlon venue in the mountain cluster, the Gasprom complex and sites designed to mitigate the impact of Olympic and tourism developments - such as a leopard breeding centre - were visited.

In its report, UNEP said: "The mission observed that the implementation of decision taken at political level relating to the mitigation and compensation of impacts of Olympic and tourism projects are taking too long."