MOSCOW, July 1 (R-Sport) - Russia is unlikely to see the kind of unrest that has overshadowed the Confederations Cup in Brazil, Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko told R-Sport on Monday.
More than a million Brazilians have taken to the streets in recent weeks, clashing with police as they vent their anger at the amount of public money being spent on the Confederations Cup and the 2014 World Cup rather than on improving aging public services.
But the situation in Russia, which will host these events in 2017 and 2018, differs significantly because most of the $20 billion budget is being spent on upgrading infrastructure in host cities, Mutko said.
"We live in a democratic society and in the framework of democratic processes everything is possible," Mutko said. "We just need to anticipate and understand these things."
"But the development program is very well balanced. About 25 percent is being spent on the sporting side, and the rest is going on a program to modernize 11 regions of the country," he said.
"Transport, security, healthcare, airport upgrades, hotel construction, city infrastructure improvements - all of this is part of the program," Mutko said.
Russians should be further placated by the fact that just over $10 billion of the total budget is to come from state coffers - the rest from private sources, Mutko said.
"I don't think this will be some kind of huge burden on the state budget, but the effect will be colossal because this is investment in our own country."
He said that the protests in Brazil had been sparked by broader concerns, and that people had chosen to air their concerns at a time when their country is in the global spotlight. "These protests have a greater chance of being heard," he said.
Russia beat bids from England, Spain/Portugal and Belgium/Netherlands to win the hosting rights to the 2018 World Cup in December 2010.
It is staging the tournament in 12 stadiums in 11 cities, mostly confined to its European territory. A refurbished Luzhniki Stadium, the venue of the 1980 Moscow Olympics, will host the opening game, a semifinal and the final.
