(ANSA) - Moscow, December 16 - Premier Enrico Letta is set to attend the opening ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympics in the Russian Black Sea city of Sochi, the Italian ambassador to Moscow said Monday. "Premier Letta already told (Russian) President (Vladimir) Putin at the Italian-Russian summit in Trieste (last month) that he will do everything to be present in Sochi, unless something extraordinary happens," said ambassador Cesare Maria Ragaglini. "Anyway, his intention is to be there". The run-up to the Sochi games has been hit by controversy over Russia's new law banning homosexual "propaganda" among minors, which opponents say turns rights on free speech and assembly backwards.