Putin offers to take on vast Sochi hotel from oligarch, compensate for costs

Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered to take on a vast hotel in Sochi, home to the 2014 Winter Games, from an oligarch and compensate him for the construction costs.

On a visit to Sochi over the weekend Putin publicly asked Viktor Vekselberg's company to hand over one of the two hotels he built next to the Olympic park.

An Associated Press investigation last week revealed that at least two major Sochi investors, including Vekselberg, were quietly dumping their toxic assets on the state, forcing taxpayers to pick up the bill.

The handover of the hotel also amounts to dumping the $450 million loan that Vekselberg's company took out from a state bank.