By David Gold
January 21 – Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin (pictured) has indicated that supporters with tickets to matches for the 2018 World Cup will be able to travel across the country for free, and also confirmed that they will not need to obtain visas.
“I’d like to note that we’ve decided to let the fans with match tickets enter Russia without visas during the 2018 World Cup,” Putin said in St Petersburg.
“Furthermore, we’re now considering the possibility of allowing supporters with tickets to travel across the country for free during the event.”
Russia had already pledged to relax visa requirements for spectators, but the suggestion that free travel could also be given will be a major boost considering the scale of the country and the distance between World Cup venues.
Russia has yet to finalise the stadiums which will host games during the 2018 competition, but they will choose a maximum of 13 from 16 candidates.
The decision on the host cities which will stage games will be made this autumn, and stadiums in contention are located in Kaliningrad and St Petersburg in the north, Moscow, Yaroslavl and Nizhny Novgorod in the centre, to the east Yekaterinburg, Saransk and Kazan, and in the south are Rostov-on-Don, Volgograd, Krasnodar and Sochi.
Whichever venues are selected, fans are likely to face lengthy, and therefore costly, journeys.
The only city lying to the east of the Ural mountains which is in contention, Yekaterinburg, is likely to be selected, and is some 1,800 kilometres from Moscow.
Contact the writer of this story at zib.l1734933984labto1734933984ofdlr1734933984owedi1734933984sni@d1734933984log.d1734933984ivad1734933984