Head of EMERCOM inspects Kazan Arena and presents a soccer ball to Rustam Minnikhanov
The head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia Vladimir Puchkov visited the stadium Kazan Arena in the framework of the visiting session of the government commission on prevention and liquidation of emergency situations and ensuring fire safety to the Confederations Cup in 2017. Read more in the article of Realnoe Vremya.
Review of special equipment in front of the football stadium of Russia
Russia is on the final stage of preparation for the Confederations Cup, which will be held in our country this summer. The tournament starts on 17 June, Kazan picks up the baton the next day with the match Portugal — Mexico. Exactly two months before the first match of the Confederations Cup in Kazan, the main arena of the city was visited by the head of the Ministry of the Russian Federation for civil defense, emergencies and elimination of consequences of natural disasters Vladimir Puchkov. The purpose of the visit was to visit not only the stadium but also Kazanorgsintez JSC, Kazan Helicopters JSC, the museum Island Town of Sviyazhsk and Innopolis.
The Kazan Arena stadium has already accustomed to hold events which either remotely related to football or even not related to sports. The opening and closing ceremonies of the Universiade, World Aquatics Championships, and even the forum of bloggers and the nationwide namaz. Of course, they do not forget about Rubin — but 26 games in four years seems to be very little.
Now, the football stadium in Russia holds a show of special equipment of EMERCOM of Russia under the leadership of Minister Puchkov and President of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov. The parties shook hands with each fellow of the ministry, and Puchkov even inspected the equipment, assessed quality, and patted service dogs.
''The average grade of readiness on the reporting date is 65%''
After the ceremony, all the participants moved to the hall for press conferences at Kazan Arena, where the field meeting of the government commission on prevention and liquidation of emergency situations and ensuring fire safety took place via video conference.
Despite the upcoming Confederations Cup, the first issue considered was flood prevention measures. Deputy Minister of EMERCOM of Russia Pavel Baryshev in his speech noted that despite unfavourable forecasts, seasonal preventive actions are carried out as usual. At the end of the speech, Puchkov called to carry out preventive and explanatory work with the population carefully and to check the readiness of forces and means necessary to protect settlements.
The next topic of the meeting was the preparation for the upcoming FIFA Confederations Cup 2017. The keynote speech was given by Director General of Executive Directorate of Sports Projects ANO Azat Kadyrov. He noted that the city is on the final stage of preparation for the tournament, and all major agreements have already been signed.
''Now we are on the final stage of the preparation, we are strictly implementing all the requirements of the coordinating council on preparation for the Confederations Cup. We have adopted all the necessary normative documents at the regional level. The main object is Kazan Arena. Now at the stadium, the work on construction of temporary infrastructure is underway. The average grade of readiness on the reporting date is 65% under conditions of provision with safety means,'' he said.
Kadyrov also said that the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) and the government of Kazan are put great attention to the work on building the ''last mile''. At the moment, all agencies have agreed boundaries of transport perimeters to restrict the movement near Kazan Arena on the days of the matches of the Confederations Cup. It is assumed that on 18 and 24 June traffic will be restricted from 1 p.m. to 11 p.m., and on 22 and 28 June – from 4 p.m. until 2 a.m.
''Ill-wishers are just waiting for us to fail''
Active work on organisation of sites for a festival of fans is taking place. Scheduled works are carried out in this area, an accreditation centre and FIFA ticket office will be located in Aquatic Palace near Kazan Arena. Moments linked with accommodation of football players during the Confederations Cup became clear. A regional operational centre will be at Kazan Arena. It will be connected with an analogous centre in Saint Petersburg, it kicks off on 15 May. It will be one of the events on organisation of test matches at Kazan Arena.
If anybody doesn't know we will remind that matches of Rubin-Kazan against Ufa and CSKA in the Russian Championship will be test events. Great attention will be paid to the game against CSKA where a global check of all systems and services including fan's passport will take place. So cheap tickets to these matches can be expected to try to gather the greatest number of spectators. Although prices in Kazan are not high, it is another topic for discussion.
During the meeting, Minnikhanov noted the importance of the Confederations Cup for Russia. ''We perfectly understand that ill-wishers are just waiting for us to fail. This is why I think we need to hold all events linked with organisation of these matches at the highest level. There are all possibilities for it. Preparation for the Confederations Cup keeps to the schedule.''
Puchkov, in turn, stated the security plan in the tournament is to be made up until 1 May: ''It is necessary to modernise all plans of actions on warning and liquidation of emergency situations in venues where sports events take place, tourism and hotel facilities, transport infrastructure and other venues used to hold the sports events.''
Checking the grass is a holy cause
After the one-hour meeting ended, Puchkov and Minnikhanov went to inspect the Kazan Arena grass. Despite the dull weather after Rubin's next defeat, the grass was shining and looked decent.
But the faces of the two key characters of the event still remained strict and concentrated because much work needs to be done to prepare the infrastructure for the Confederations Cup. Puchkov noted, at this moment, a huge preparation job was done in this area. It allows to state the readiness of the country for the tournament. Despite several problematic questions.
''We will take big steps to prepare all system of anti-crisis management. Space monitoring works, fire, rescue and other departments that provide security of all events in the Confederations Cup were prepared and additionally equipped,'' the emergency minister stated.
Rustam Minnikhanov noted again that the Republic of Tatarstan had huge experience in organisation of international competitions: ''We held the 2013 World Summer Universiade, 2015 FINA World Championships. FIFA requirements are clear, strict. Today everybody knows what needs to be done and how, two months left for us. We don't doubt all efforts, resources, staff – everybody will be ready to perform the tasks that were set.''
In answer to Duslyk (Editor's Note: ''friendship'' in Tatar) order, which Minnikhanov gave the minister after the meeting ended, Puchkov presented the Tatarstan president a symbolic football ball. The minister hoped it will bring luck and victory to our national team. We also hope so, Mr Puchkov.
