On Tuesday Prime Minister Vladimir Putin offered his backing to Russia’s bid for the World Cup during a meeting with FIFA inspectors in which they took a look at how viable the option is.
Putin added that Russian authorities would put a visa-free regime in place for those who are guests of the World Cup and those who are planning on participating. Russia is hoping to win the bid for the World Cup in 2018 or 2022.
Also at the meeting were the head of the RFU (Russian Football Union), Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, and sports minister Vitaly Mutko. The meeting was attended by six members of the FIFA board and led by Harold Mayne-Nicholls the Chilean Football Federation President.
Putin declared that Russia is prepared to do whatever is required in order to win the World Cup bid if FIFA decided that the country could be trusted to host the largest football event in the world. He stated that if FIFA offers the country the World Cup then Russia will offer everything that they can which would include the action visa-free regime.
The Prime Minister added that he is sure that everyone who attends the event along with the participants will enjoy the World Cup in Russia and that plans to reconstruct across the country will still occur even if they lose the bid for the 2018 bid.
Russia has already been selected as the 2014 location for the Winter Olympics which was the work of Putin.