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The Russian government will reduce budget expenses by ten percent. Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko assured that the budget cuts will not affect the construction of stadiums, claiming that only subsidies for the organizing committee and organizational needs will decrease.
However, V. Mutko did not provide specific numbers.
Due to financial problems, Russia has already reduced the capacity of the grandstands of two out of twelve stadiums prepared for the World Cup from 45,000 to 35,000 seats.
V. Mutko assured that other stadiums will not suffer due to the reduced budget.
"FIFA will no longer make concessions, and all other stadiums must accommodate at least 45,000 seats," said V. Mutko. "The ticket program has already begun, and this is already FIFA's revenue."
FIFA does not want to lose more money due to reduced stadium capacity. Due to the two reduced stadiums, FIFA suffered losses of at least 53 million euros.
Russia planned to spend 8.5 billion euros on the World Cup. More than half of the expenses will be covered by the Russian government. The majority of the remaining amount will be covered by regional Russian municipalities and state-owned companies.
lrytas.lt
