Ria-Novosti Roundup -- Sochi Drug Test Numbers; World Cup Construction, Infrastructure Concerns

Sochi Olympics to See 2,500 Doping Tests

Sochi Olympics organizers said Thursday that 2,500 doping tests would be conducted at the Winter Games next February, surpassing the total at the Vancouver Games four years ago.

Alexei Slautin, the head of the Sochi 2014 doping control committee, told the Sports Ministry’s website 13 doping control sites will operate during the Games, with 10 stationed at various venues and three in the Olympic village.

According to the International Olympic Committee, 2,149 doping tests were performed in Vancouver.

Slautin also said 600 tests will be carried out at the Sochi Paralympics.

Last month, Russia’s sports ministry said 570 trained "specialists" will collect blood and urine samples at the Sochi Games. In Vancouver, by comparison, there were 500 doping personnel.

The first Winter Olympics in Russia take place February 7-23, 2014.

Published by exclusive arrangement with RIA Novosti, host news agency of Sochi 2014.

St. Petersburg Denies Zenit Arena in New Trouble

St. Petersburg's vice governor responsible for construction on Monday denied claims by Russia's federal Audit Chamber that the city's 2018 World Cup football stadium might not be complete until 2017.

Audit Chamber head Sergei Stepashin said earlier on Monday that the best-case scenario is for construction of the $1.1 billion arena to be finished in late 2016 or early 2017 because the city has failed to take into account unspecified "operational decisions" and that damp might have set in through parts of the stadium already constructed.

But Marat Oganesyan stuck to the projected completion date of 2015, with the opening set for 2016, after approval from Russia's construction oversight agency and world football's governing body FIFA.

"In 2016 commissioning work will be carried out so the arena can come online," Oganesyan said in comments relayed by a St. Petersburg government spokesperson.

In March, St. Petersburg’s city construction committee cut its cost estimate from $1.3 billion, which had put the troubled arena in line to overtake London’s Wembley as the world’s most expensive. Stepashin said this should be treated as a success for his auditing operation.

"We’ve reduced the cost of the stadium, but it’s like Wembley, it’s very expensive," he said. Like the St. Petersburgconstruction committee, Stepashin did not say how exactly the money had been saved. The revised figure remains almost three times the project’s original budget.

The stadium started construction in 2007 and was originally supposed to open in 2008. It has faced a litany of problems, including a partial redesign to comply with by FIFA’s World Cup specifications. The latest plans for the arena were rejected last month by Russia’s federal agency for major infrastructure projects, citing design changes.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev visited the site last year and said the drawn-out construction "looks disgraceful."

A criminal investigation is under way into alleged fraud on the project after Russia’s Investigative Committee said costs could have been overstated by $16.5 million.

Auditors said in March they had also found $4.9 million in "unnecessary costs" and a further $9.2 million spent on unusable seats.

In the same month, a builder was killed at the site after being struck by a falling piece of metal, and prosecutors filed 15 charges against a company that they said had employed illegal immigrants on the project.

Published by exclusive arrangement with RIA Novosti, host news agency of Sochi 2014.

World Cup Infrastructure Inadequate - Deputy CEO

Russia is struggling to beef up its hospitality infrastructure ahead of the 2018 World Cup, with seven of the 11 host cities lagging behind in the number of hotel rooms on offer, World Cup deputy CEO Alexander Djordjadze said Tuesday.

Only Moscow, Sochi, St. Petersburg and Kazan meet the FIFA requirement of 60,000 hotel rooms for host cities, Djordjadze said at the Football Build Expo in St. Petersburg.

"It’s no secret that the other cities require improvement," he said, referring to Yekaterinburg, Kaliningrad, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don and Saransk.

Djordjadze also said those municipalities will have to find "creative solutions" for airports ill-equipped to handle the expected influx of spectators from across Russia and abroad.

He suggested makeshift terminals as one possible solution.

Russia's sports ministry has said it will need $44 billion to organize the World Cup, which will be held June 8 to July 8, 2018. Individual regions have already asked for federal funding to improve antiquated roads and transportation hubs and build stadiums.

In December, FIFA president Sepp Blatter said preparations were exceeding his expectations.

Published by exclusive arrangement with RIA Novosti, host news agency of Sochi 2014.