2018 World Cup stadium costs: As Russia’s preparations for the 2018 FIFA World Cup get going in earnest, Putin ally Gennady Timchenko has warned that his construction company Stroytransgaz will withdraw from stadium construction projects in Nizhny Novgorod and Volgograd unless the government raises its cost estimates from RUB15bn to at least RUB17bn. “Stroytransgaz does not work at a loss,” he said. The Moscow Times