MOSCOW--The Russian government ordered 30 billion roubles ($560 million) in cuts in spending on the 2018 World Cup finals on Monday, the latest cutback as an economic crisis takes a toll.
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 roubles ($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 optimising 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.
REUTERS
