Russia says spy poisoning, not incomplete stadiums, hurting World Cup
MOSCOW: Russia World Cup organisers are more worried about Moscow’s latest diplomatic standoff with the West than stadiums being completed on time, said top official Alexei Sorokin.
Sorokin, chief of the Russia 2018 organising committee, told the Kommersant newspaper the poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal was “not helping” preparations.
The nerve agent attack in England sparked mass expulsions and a decision by Britain and a few of its allies not to send officials to the June 14 opening.
It marked the first known use of chemical weapons in western Europe since World War II.
“Our main problem rests abroad – not with infrastructure,” said Sorokin.
“Any incident , whether it occurred natural ly or was created artificially, is being used to put pressure on World Cup organisers.”
Sorokin said there was “nothing we cannot finish on time” despite work still remaining at six stadiums and airports in the smaller host cities.
But he accused Moscow’s critics of trying to use the fallout surrounding the poisoning to drive down attendances at Russian President Vladimir Putin’s prestige event.
“I think the intention was there, but it is not working,” said Sorokin.
Moscow and London have been trading diplomatic barbs almost daily s inc eSk rip a land his daughter Yulia fell ill in Salisbury on March 4.
Britain accuses Russia of poisoning Skripal in retribution for passing on state secrets to London.
Russia’s foreign intelligence chief Sergei Naryshkin on Wednesday called it a “grotesque provocation” concocted by UK and US security services.
The diplomatic crisis does not appear to have dampened international interest in the first World Cup ever held in eastern Europe.
Football’s world ruling body FIFA said Tuesday it was happy foreign demand had accounted for a strong 53 percent of the 1.7 million tickets purchased to date.
Yet sales in England have been atypically weak.
FIFA distributed a new batch of 400,000 tickets between March 13 and April 1.
Fans from England accounted for less than one percent of that figure and have purchased just 31,000 tickets to date.
Their fears have been compounded by an attack by hundreds of Russian hooligans on English supporters in the French port of Marseille during Euro 2016.
Sorokin told the Sport Express news site he had discussed Russia’s security measures with British embassy staff in a bid to appease English concerns. — AFP