Putin excluded the 2014 Olympics from the list of state programs

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin ordered to exclude the not yet developed state program for financing the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi from the list of state programs. The corresponding document is published on the official website of the Russian government.

AsKommersant clarifies, thereby the budget expenses for Sochi will be carried out outside the program-targeted financing methods, which will deprive the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economy of the opportunity to effectively control the state financing of the Olympic Games. Departments will not be able to publicly calculate the budget expenses for Sochi and determine whether they have achieved their goals.

The press secretary of the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Kozak Ilya Jus assured that the decision to abandon the Olympic state program is “technical”. According to him, it will not affect the financing of the project.

In March, Kozak estimated the total costs of holding the Olympic Games in 195 billion rubles, of which 90 billion falls on the federal budget. Kommersant notes that Sochi-2014 costs taxpayers much more. Thus, the subsidies of the Olympstroy state corporation, engaged in the construction of sports facilities in Sochi, amounted to 74.9 billion rubles in 2011, and next year they will increase to 126 billion rubles. In addition, in 2013, the government plans to provide Olympstroy another subsidy of 70.6 billion rubles.