Putin confident that 2018 World Cup facilities will develop sports

MOSCOW, June 15. /TASS/. Stadiums and other facilities under construction for the 2018 World Cup in Russia will be used to develop sports, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during the annual question and answer session on Thursday. "Almost all buildings and facilities constructed for the Olympic Games in Sochi are used efficiently, and this also refers to Kazan, which hosted the 2013 Universiade. In this respect, we have achieved the best results than anywhere else. Stadiums should be definitely used as sports facilities. We are sure they will be used to develop sports and children activities," Putin said. Answering a question from a citizen of the westernmost Russian region of Kaliningrad, Putin noted that construction of the arena is underway as scheduled. "I’m sure the facility in Kaliningrad will be built in due time. Initially, it seemed that the price tag was inflated, but it is clear that the leadership of Kaliningrad and the Kaliningrad Region wanted not only to build a stadium but the whole surrounding area, the whole neighborhood. In the end, we agreed about the cost of the stadium and the construction is underway as scheduled," Putin said. "The stadium is under construction so that people could go in for sports and fans could come. I hope we will never allow a situation to happen, when stadiums turn into flea markets. On the contrary, everything in Moscow is coming full circle, and sports facilities are used as intended," he said. For next year’s FIFA World Cup, Russia is offering up 11 host cities to be the venues for the matches of world’s major football competition and they are Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi, Kazan, Saransk, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg and Samara. The games of the 2018 World Cup will be held between June 14 and July 15 at 12 stadiums located in the 11 above-mentioned cities across Russia. Two of the stadiums are located in the Russian capital of Moscow. Read more