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 No reason was given for the decision, but Russia has been forced to
cut costs since the global price of oil collapsed last year and
Western governments imposed economic sanctions over Moscow's role in
the crisis in Ukraine.
A decree issued by the government said total spending on the
tournament would now be 631.5 billion rubles ($11.8 billion) but
Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said the building and renovation of
stadiums would not be affected.
"We proceed from the fact that we're working on a revision of the
(World Cup) budget. Of course it's a question of optimizing the
preparations. We're primarily taking out the excess hotels," he told
reporters.
President Vladimir Putin says he is confident Russia will host the
finals despite investigations into alleged corruption at soccer's
governing body FIFA and how Russia was awarded the 2018 finals.
"We won in a free fight and we are going to host the World Cup," he
told Reuters and other international news agencies in the city of St
Petersburg on Saturday.
PERSONAL AND NATIONAL AMBITIONS
Putin will do all he can to ensure the finals are not taken away
from Russia, especially as a presidential election is due in 2018
and he sees the tournament as a chance to showcase Russia as a
modern state; but Russia has been forced to lower its sights as the
economic downturn worsens.
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Russia won the right to host the finals with a bid promising to
build six new stadiums, hotels, training grounds and health
facilities. Costly airport renovations and high-speed rail links are
also needed to ease travel between the 11 host cities.
Before the new government decree, the World Cup organizers had
already axed plans to build 25 hotels, cut the number of training
grounds and reduced the capacity of some of the venues to save on
building costs.
Building materials are now being sourced locally from Russian
providers because of the ruble's decline against the U.S. dollar in
the past year, pushing up construction costs.
Russia also hopes to avoid criticism over the price tag after the
cost of hosting the Winter Olympics in Sochi last year soared and
put the spotlight on Russia's problems with corruption and cronyism.
(Reporting by Katya Golubkova, Writing by Timothy Heritage, Editing
by Elizabeth Piper and)
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