This afternoon, New Yorker contributor Keith Gessen was detained by OMON (Russian special forces unit) while he was covering the mayoral election in Sochi, the city which will be hosting the 2014 Winter Olympics. According to Gazeta.ru, Russian online newspaper, Gessen was researching a claim by one of the candidates of tempering with the voting ballots.

Gazeta.ru reports that the officials in charge of the election refused to take the reporter's questions and called the police instead. 15-person special forces unit arrived and took Gessen away after confirming that he has an American passport. Gessen could not be reached on his cell phone.

Election of Sochi mayor, taking place today, became one of the most heated political campaigns, as the newly-elected mayor will oversee the multi-billion dollar construction of the facilities for the 2014 Winter Olympics. Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov and high-profile banker and the Evening Standard newspaper owner Alexander Lebedev were among the candidates for the post (Lebedev was later refused an opportunity to run for mayor by local authorities.)

UPDATE: GESSEN RELEASED BY RUSSIAN AUTHORITIES [RUSSIA! magazine]

American Journalist Detained in Sochi [Gazeta.ru (in Russian)]