The 2014 Winter Olympics are coming up in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, where Russia is spending a record $48 billion on the event. It will be a mad rush to the opening ceremony on February 7th, while headlines are being dominated lately by concerns about terrorist attacks, lack of snow and anti-gay laws. Yet another, potentially longer-lasting battle is playing out behind the scenes, involving Putin’s government, some of Russia’s wealthiest industrialists and a state-owned bank. The government is demanding that the country’s biggest companies stand firm on commitments to bankroll the games.

State-owned Vnesheconombank, known as VEB, lent $7.4 billion to a who’s who of Russia’s elite, in order to finance venues and apartments in the Caucasus Mountains and along Sochi’s seacoast. The moguls say skyrocketing costs and restrictions on commercial activities mean they risk losses on their investments unless the government helps. They want extended tax breaks and subsidies on the interest payments they owe VEB for Sochi assets.

Sochi 2014 might as well be renamed Putin 2014, says Scott Antel, a partner at DLA Piper LLC in Moscow, who has worked on hotel projects in the region. Antel says Putin twisted billionaires’ arms to get the Olympics off the ground in return for letting their companies run their quasi-monopolies. “This was a deal with the devil,” Antel says. “You will do your civic duty and build facilities in Sochi so we can have this coming-out party for the new Russian state. This is your indirect taxation to be allowed to continue with your main business activity.”

As Putin flies to Sochi today for three days of meetings to check on construction projects, the question remains: could Putin be staking his legacy, and Russia’s image, on his pet Olympics project?