"People have a very good understanding of what it really means to single out the Olympic Games to make an ostentatious gesture which allegedly costs nothing but produces international headlines," said Bach, a German lawyer and Olympic gold medal winner.
The buildup to the Olympics has been overshadowed by Western criticism of the anti-gay law and Russia's record on human rights and other issues, making Sochi among the most politically charged games in years.
Obama and key European leaders are shunning the Olympics. Obama, in a clear message against the anti-gay laws, has sent a delegation to Sochi made up of three openly gay athletes -- tennis great Billie Jean King, 2006 Olympic hockey medalist Caitlin Cahow, and figure skater Brian Boitano.
Speaking to the same IOC meeting, Putin said nothing about the hard issues confronting the Sochi Games -- cost overruns, unfinished hotels and an uproar in some countries over gay rights.
But he boasted that Russia had undertaken the monumental effort of starting from scratch in Sochi and completing the needed construction in a short time, something he said it took other countries decades to prepare.
"We realize what a difficult decision this was to hold the games in a city that barely had 10 to 15 percent of the necessary infrastructure," Putin told the IOC. "You believed in us, you believed in the Russian character which can overcome all difficulties."
Putin's visit to the leopard preserve was designed as a show of environmental concern during the Sochi Games, which open Friday. The sanctuary was established five years ago as an Olympics-related project.
The former KGB operative has thrown open the Kremlin treasury to finance the Olympics, lavishing a record $51 billion on sports facilities and transportation infrastructure in Sochi.
With the vast sum Putin invested in the games, he has turned the once-sleepy resort into a kind of Disneyland of phantasmagorical structures -- new highways, sweeping overpasses and top-notch sports venues. Winding roads and rail lines were cut upward into the mountains to newly built Alpine facilities.
While the massive project doesn't represent a do-or-die moment for Russia, the most expensive Olympics in history -- with billions of dollars reportedly lost to graft -- will reverberate through the economy and Kremlin politics. Putin's third term as president will end in 2018.
Top officials from Olympic heavyweights such as France and Germany also won't be in Sochi.
The paucity of national leaders of major world powers leaves Putin with a schedule of meetings that will begin Thursday with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Chinese President Xi Jinping. In the following days he will sit down with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Japanese leader Shinzo Abe.
Bach reiterated that Putin had given the IOC assurances that the Olympic Charter would be upheld during the games and that homosexuals would not face discrimination. But he stressed that athletes must not use the Olympic Village and venues for "political demonstrations."
The IOC has come under criticism for not doing more to fight the anti-gay law, but Bach said the committee was a sports organization with limited responsibilities.
Bach's speech was delivered at a ceremony marking the opening of the IOC's three-day session, or general assembly, ahead of the games. His sharp comments marked a strong contrast with the relatively anodyne, diplomatic speeches of his predecessor, Jacques Rogge.
