By Paul Nicholson
May 1 – The soft face of news from Russia on World Cup 2018 preparations, met the harder of face football’s geo-politics this week. As the 2018 organisers launched a competition to create the mascot for the 2018 World Cup, the organisers were pushed into defending the possibility of housing teams in 2018 in the volatile North Caucasus regions, including Chechnya.
Alexei Sorokin, CEO of the Russia 2018 organising committee, said that 50 of the expected 64 training bases required for teams in 2018 have been agreed.
The Chechen capital of Grozny and the Dagestan city Makhachkala are on a preliminary list of team bases though both have questionmarks over security. UEFA has previously ordered Anzhi Makhachkala to play home European games in Moscow, while last December Islamist militants waged a gun battle with police that left at least 20 dead.
“There will be inspections but I’m sure there are teams that might prefer Grozny or Makhachkala or other cities where they have good relations with the administration,” said Sorokin.
“We have full assurances from the regional authorities that security will be organised at the highest level.”
Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko had previously supported the inclusion of Grozny as a team base. “Grozny, they supported it and they liked it,” he said on Tuesday. Grozny had put itself forward as a candidate to host World Cup games but was not proposed as part of the bidding process.
Russia has fought two brutal wars against Chechen separatists but the security situation is currently quieter and there have been very few football-related security incidents in recent years.
The final decision on training bases will be made by FIFA.
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