World News Agencies at Volgograd Arena

Representatives of the leading world news agencies from Germany, France, Japan, China, Spain, Canada, Great Britain, Sweden, Finland and other countries have visited Volgograd Arena, which is under construction, as part of a press tour organised by FIFA to demonstrate the construction progress achieved since the previous visit of foreign media in July 2015.

An excursion for journalists to the construction site has been conducted by Construction Director of the stadium Sergey Kamin, who has demonstrated the work progress to the delegation and told them about features of the facility. Representatives of news agencies have been interested in technical features of the arena, involvement of foreign contractors, as well as in issues concerning the further use of the stadium in the “Heritage” mode and much more.

After inspecting the construction site, the media delegation has headed off to the bypass pedestrian overpass of the stadium to talk with Governor of Volgograd Region Andrey Bocharov.

“On 2 February 2018, it will be 75 years since the day of victory in the Battle of Stalingrad,” said Andrey Bocharov in an address to journalists. “And this victory has given all of us, without any exception, a peaceful world where we live. It is a complex, challenging, contradictory world, but it is peaceful. Today you are here, and many of you are just over 20 years old. It was these boys and girls who defended this land and pushed back the fascism. And we have to appreciate it.”

Andrey Bocharov also recalled that on 23 August, by order of Goering, the city of Stalingrad had been subjected to a large-scale destruction by air strikes within a week. It was practically wiped off the face of the earth. According to preliminary estimates, about 790,000 people died. “Here, every inch of the soil is soaked with blood,” said the Governor. “People from all over the world and Europe were here and fought together against fascism. They protected our land.” Before the war began, about 460,000 people had lived in Stalingrad. According to the census, after the liberation on 2 February 1943 about 32,000 people remained here.

The Governor of Volgograd Region told journalists about large-scale changes in the region’s infrastructure and noted that all plans are being implemented in full, including the construction of Volgograd Arena.