体坛英语新闻：Sochi Olympic torch relay starts from Red Square

MOSCOW, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- The Olympic flame arrived in Moscow on Sunday, kicking off a bumpy start of relay when the torch went out for a while.

The Greece-originated flame, accompanied by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak, landed at Moscow's Vnukovo airport and was escorted on Sunday afternoon to the Red Square where President Vladimir Putin lit a cauldron with it.

"Today is a joyful and solemn day -- the Olympic flame, a symbol of key sport competitions on the planet, a symbol of friendship and peace, has arrived in Russia," Putin said in a nationwide broadcast speech.

"Common goals unite our people who are proud of the great nation whose values are based on fairness, mutual assistance, support, openness and friendship, respect, equality and diversity," the president added.

The torch relay will officially start on Monday and conclude when the cauldron is lit at the 22nd Winter Olympic Games' opening ceremony in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Feb. 7.

However, the small relay around the Red Square was narrowly disrupted when the torch briefly went out on one of the bearers as he was passing through a Kremlin gate.

An official relit the torch immediately. The flame in the cauldron remained lit throughout the time.

Dmitry Chernyshenko, head of the steering committee of Sochi 2014, said the accident was a minor hiccup.

"I would not attach too much importance to what happened and call on people not to pay attention to it," the RIA Novosti news agency quoted him as saying.

He assured that all the torches "have passed numerous tests and they will burn irrespective of the wind."

The flame will travel more than 65,000 km across Russia's 83 regions spanning 132 cities. In the 123-day relay, it will also dive into the Baikal as well as fly to the space.