November 25 – Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko says security will be tightened at the 2018 World Cup following the Paris massacre and the growing threat of terrorism generally.
“We discussed the problems of security in detail,” Mutko told reporters following a meeting between the organising committee which he heads and FIFA. “The security plan has already been approved. Taking into consideration the situation in the world, security measures will be intensified.”
Mutko said recommendations for security measures across Europe would be discussed shortly. “It’s very important to apply these measures not just in a single country but everywhere.”
For 2018, he said there was a particular focus on protecting crowds gathered in fan zones.
“Today our colleagues from FIFA focused on us paying more attention to the fan zones,” Mutko said. “Of course that will be done.”
“We have encountered the problem of security, and examined it in detail. Now the security measures will naturally be strengthened in connection with the circumstances in the world.”
Kaliningrad stadium delays
The World Cup in Russia involves 12 stadiums in 11 host cities across the European part of the country, while the 2017 Confederations Cup will take place in four Russian cities.
Mutko said Russia was not prepared to go above budget and admitted one of the stadiums was behind schedule.
“Kaliningrad has a delay. The Kaliningrad government devised a project, which was not approved. The project is now under consideration of the experts again. We look forward to a favourable conclusion of the stadium project shortly. We hope that work will catch up within the year and will continue according to the plan which was identified before.”
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