Sporting fiesta will reveal the true Russia to outsiders

The fault lines in a deeply elusive host nation will be laid bare under the scrutiny of a global audience

Where are we, and how did we get here? A journey that began eight years ago with Roman Abramovich jumping up and clapping in a Zurich conference hall is about to bring all the Russias speeding across our eyeballs.

“All the Russias” is a term used deliberately, because just as America defies definition by a handful of images, so the 2018 World Cup hosts are a Russian doll of stories, eras and peoples.

The monolithic image we in the West imagine will be the first thing to go at this tournament – even before Russia’s team, who will be relieved to advance beyond a World Cup group stage for the first time since the break-up – or breakdown – of the Soviet Union. Abramovich was there as a delegate in Zurich in 2010, when Russia took 13 of the 22 second-round votes to win the right to stage this World Cup; and later that day, St Petersburg’s most famous modern son swept into town, declaring: “We’re honoured by your decision. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.”

England’s nearest metropolis is a fine prism for this World Cup: better than Moscow, because the former Leningrad is where a young Vladimir Putin reputedly walked into the KGB headquarters on Liteyny Prospekt and told the receptionist he wanted to sign up.

The commonly told version is that Putin was instructed to go away and join the army or acquire a law degree. He chose study, at Leningrad University, in a city he referenced in his Zurich speech.