OREANDA-NEWS. March 22, 2011. During the meeting, Vladimir Putin asked Vitaly Mutko to consider the possibility of hosting the World Figure Skating Championships. According to the prime minister, with this Russia could support Japan and the International Skating Union.

Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:

Vladimir Putin: Hello, Mr Mutko,

I would like to talk to you about the progress of the federal targeted programme to develop physical fitness and sports, especially with respect to the construction of more sports centres and overhauling the existing facilities.

Second, it just became clear that our friends in Japan will not be able to host the World Figure Skating Championships. The recent tragedy that struck Japan has certainly cancelled these plans. We could support Japan and the International Skating Union by proposing to hold the event here in Russia instead, provided that the union is interested in that.

This is not an expensive event, and Russia could shoulder all the costs. The point is that there are millions of Russians who love figure skating. We could please our people with these spectacular shows. Please, work on this with your colleagues. Let me repeat, if they are interested, we are ready to do it.

Vitaly Mutko: Mr Putin, about the federal programme – you instructed us to review it when we reported on the results of the Vancouver Olympics. The idea was to shift the emphasis to those facilities, both old and new, that are for elite sports, for all 53 Olympic sports.

This year, we spent around 6 billion roubles on this work, and we have already shown several projects to you. We plan to complete about five sports centres and bases – one of them, of course, in Novogorsk. It is by using the Novogorsk multifunctional centre that we plan to handle most of the task – about 35 different kinds of sports.

We have already commissioned the ice arena, which you have visited. It will host practices and competitions in curling, figure skating, and hockey. The rink will easily transform to a smaller size if needed. Second, this year in Novogorsk…