MOSCOW, July 6 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Vladimir Putin will on Saturday take part in the opening of the 2013 World University Summer Games in Kazan, the capital of the Russian republic of Tatarstan, the Kremlin reported.
The XXVII Summer Universiade in Kazan is the biggest ever, with 10,442 athletes from 162 countries competing in 27 sports. The Games run on July 6-17.
Of the 64 venues hosting the event, 30 were built specifically for the Universiade.
The Games have a $4.5 billion price tag, the president of the International University Sports Federation, Claude-Louis Gallien, said Friday in the first overall cost estimate for the event.
That makes the Games the second most expensive in history, behind only the $30 billion event in Shenzhen, China, in 2011, when much of the money went on a city-wide redevelopment program.
Of the total cost, around $435 million was allocated to the construction of the athletes' village, which will afterwards become Russia's largest student accommodation complex.
