Listen to the full interview via the podcast.

While the controversy over Russia's anti-LGBT laws are causing grievances ahead of next month's Winter Olympics, there is another major issue.

The city of Sochi, where the Games will be held, is located in Krasnodar Krai near conflict zones such as Chechnya.

The threat of terrorist attacks by Islamist groups are an ominous cloud over the 16-day event, especially after the suicide bombings in the nearby city of Volgograd.

Tonight we were joined by David Satter who is a fellow of the John Hopkins University and Hudson Institute think tank as well as a former Moscow correspondent for the Financial Times.

He argues that the decision to bring the Olympics to such an unstable and dangerous region could lead to one of the "biggest catastrophes in the history of the Olympics" for the 120,000 visitors expected to attend the festivities.

"The latest news is that a hunt underway for a black widow  - a woman suicide bomber - who is already on the territory of the Olympics. We've had three terrorist attacks, numerous vows on the part of Islamic extremists to disrupt and stage terror attacks during the Olympics," said Satter.

"The Russians have mobilized tens of thousands of persons in order to protect the visitors and sportsmen. But then that also raises a very important question: How smart was it to schedule the Olympics in a situation where it takes 60,000 security police in order to prevent a terrorist attack which they may not prevent anyway, and under circumstances in which a huge incentive is created to stage terrorist attacks in other parts of Russia."

Satter described Sochi as a "beautiful Black Sea resort" and a popular destination for ordinary and high-ranking Russians during the Soviet era. But it is on the precipice of the North Caucuses which have been wracked by violence since the breakup of the Soviet Union.      

"It's an ongoing, low-level insurrection which shows no sign of coming to an end," Satter of the potential tinderbox. "And under these circumstances, the Sochi Olympics, which are being held on territory from which different Caucasian people were driven out in the 19th century in something close to genocide, is almost a provocation. It provides extremists with a very tempting target and it almost goads them into reacting at this attempted show of Russian glory."   

With that in mind, Satter believes an attempted terrorist attack is likely at Sochi. And he stressed that the Islamist terrorists in the region have a "history of being ingenious," citing the assassination of the pro-Kremlin president of Chechnya in 2004 stadium bombing. 

"The explosives were built into the beams of a sports stadium six months earlier. But even if they aren't ingenious, all of Russia is the target now. They could stage a massive terrorist attack in cities near the Olympic Games. They could stage something in Moscow or where tourist change trains."

Satter also discussed the reasons why the Russia are refusing to grant him a visa to visit the country.