Crumbling Sochi

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Irina Kharchenko walks away from her house beside the screen separating the yard of her house and a federal highway in the village Vesyoloye outside Sochi, Russia, Nov. 27, 2013.

As the Winter Games approach, many Sochi residents are complaining that their living conditions only got worse and that authorities are deaf to their grievances.

Sochi

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Alexandra Krivchenko, left, Nadezhda Kurovskaya, center, Irina Kharchenko, right, drink tea in the village of Vesyoloye outside Sochi, Russia, Nov. 27, 2013.

The residents of 5a Akatsy street have lived for years with no running water or sewage system. Construction for the 2014 Winter Games has made their lives more miserable: The new highway has cut them off from the city center. Even their communal outhouse had to be torn down because it was found to be too close to the new road and ruled an eyesore.

Sochi

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The colored state emblem of the USSR hangs on the door of the outhouse in the yard of the railroad house in the village of Vesyoloye outside Sochi, Russia, Nov. 27, 2013.

Sochi

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Igor Zarytovsky, center, and his father Vladimir, left, gather with their neighbors in the yard of the railroad house in the village of Vesyoloye outside Sochi, Russia, Nov. 27, 2013.

Sochi

Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP

Irina Kharchenko walks in the yard of her house beside the screen separating the yard of her house and a federal highway in the village Vesyoloye outside Sochi, Russia, Nov. 27, 2013.

Sochi

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A man hangs a piece of cloth out to dry in the yard as a freight train drives past in the village of Vesyoloye outside Sochi, Russia, Nov. 27, 2013.

Sochi

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A toy submarine from an amusement arcade on the beach in central Sochi, Russia, Nov. 28, 2013.

Sochi

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A stray dog and puppy sit behind the railings in the middle of a highway outside Sochi, Russia, Nov. 28, 2013.

Sochi

Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP

Alexandra Krivchenko, right, and her children, center, play with the dogs in the yard of a house sandwiched between the railway and a federal highway (seen in the background) in the village of Vesyoloye outside Sochi, Russia, Nov. 27, 2013.

Sochi

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A woman washes dishes in her kitchen in the yard of a house in the village of Vesyoloye, outside Sochi, Russia, Nov. 27, 2013.

Sochi

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A house in Vesyoloye, outside Sochi, Russia, Nov. 27, 2013.

Sochi

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A new highway is seen on the fringes of the Olympic park in Sochi, Russia, Nov. 27, 2013.

Sochi

Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP

A dog walks on the pavement in the village of Vesyoloye outside Sochi, Russia, Nov., 27, 2013.

Sochi

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A statue of ancient Roman god Neptune sits in guard of the beach during the sunset at an embankment of Sochi, Russia, Nov. 28, 2013.