The threat to Russia staging the 2018 World Cup seemed weak as football stars and VIPs convened in the preliminary draw in St. Petersburg on Saturday and huge construction works are underway in each of the 11 host cities.
While the investigation on the voting for 2018 and 2022 World Cups has not come to an end, Russia' s president Vladimir Putin delivered the determination to hold a successful World Cup and showcase a modern state.
"I would like to reiterate that all obligations undertaken by Russia will be implemented," he addressed the draw ceremony, sharing stage with FIFA' s departing president Sepp Blatter.
"It is a good chance to visit a multi-faceted and open Russia that can surprise and inspire."
Putin has insisted that Russia won the bidding in an honest way. He also criticized the US-led probing into FIFA corruption and the World Cup biddings for wrong law jurisdiction and doubtful political incentives.
Blatter, who has supported Russia' s hosting, is stepping down and FIFA's executive committee will meet on July 20 in Zurich to decide when a new presidential election will be held.
Russian organizers, however, believe that whoever succeeds Blatter will give full support to Russia's World Cup.
"It's not Russia's project. It's FIFA's project. No change in the management can ever change anything," Russia' s Sports Minister Mutko, also a member of the FIFA executive committee, said earlier in July.
Against the backdrop of international tension over Ukraine and western sanctions, the 2018 World Cup is in no doubts an opportunity for Russia to improve the country' s image and turn the situation around.
In each of the 11 host cities, stadiums for the World Cup are being built or rebuilt, with new hotels, highways and metro stations also under construction.
Most of the stadium projects are well on track to meet the deadline of the end of 2017, with some expected to commission ahead of schedule, despite $500 million budget cuts which reduce the spending on the World Cup to $11.8 billion.
Three of the 12 stadiums are completed including Moscow Spartak arena, functional as home of the local Premier League club.
St. Petersburg' s 68,000-seat stadium now also reaches the final stages of completion after long delay since the construction began in 2006.
The state-of-the-art arena, boasting a movable pitch, was once so badly behind schedule that Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev described it as "disgraceful" , but is now 75 percent ready according to project chief Vitaly Lazutkin.
Lazutkin stressed that the inefficiency occured "because the design had been changed three times" and the Prime Minister "has now changed his attitude to the stadium" .
Although there are concerns about accommodation during the World Cup as the budget slash was mainly on hotels and training camps, it is viewed by organizers as a way to save money for the future.
Mutko has warned the excess hotels could lie empty after the tournament and said the revision of the budget was to optimize the preparations.
In Nizhny Novgorod, 400km east of Moscow, organizers plan to accommodate fans and tourists in vacated university dormitories and make use of Pioneer camps, legacy of the Soviet Union, if necessary.
"In the woods, near the rivers and lakes. Those places would be available," said Maxim Podovinnikov, the region's deputy trade and industry minister.
Saransk, capital of the Republic of Mordovia, will also look to students' dorms for additional rooms at low prices during the event.
The smallest host city even plans border control at the airport as organizers anticipate to double the number of tourists in the year of World Cup.
"It will be the first time for the city to receive international flights," said Vladimir Sushkov, Chairman of the Republic' s government, hoping that the beautiful nature and Mordovian culture will impress tourists from all over the world.
Like Saransk, each host city is eager to cultivate the opportunity of the world' s biggest soccer event, raising the city' s profile and boosting tourism.
Host city of 2014 Winter Olympics Sochi is looking forward to some one million tourists coming for the World Cup, from neighboring countries like China in particular, while Kaliningrad, the nation' s easternmost regional center, wants to make local specialty amber more famous by selling amber souvenirs to fans from all over the world.
"We hope that we can welcome two million Chinese tourists per year. We haven' t reached the level but we' re working on it," said Sochi Mayor Anatoliy Pakhomov.
The city witnessed a 47% increase in tourism revenue in the Olympic year of 2014 and is more ambitious about the scenario in 2018.
According to Putin, the World Cup would guide all visitors to "experience the unique history and diverse culture of Russia", as the matches would be held in 11 host cities, from the exclave of Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea to Yekaterinburg on the border where Europe meets Asia, located in "Russian regions with distinctive traditions".
