--- title: 2018 World Cup: Russia Wants to Use Prison Labor description: Country hopes to keep costs down amid economic struggles canonical: https://time.com/3895704/world-cup-2018-russia-prison-labor/ author: Victor Luckerson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-25T20:34:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:59:09.460Z article:section: Sports og:title: Russia Eyes Use of Prison Labor to Prepare for World Cup og:description: Country hopes to keep costs down amid economic struggles og:url: https://time.com/3895704/world-cup-2018-russia-prison-labor/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3a47177f5823fc40/6988518c3c1639f34f4580c7/fifa-2018.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Journalists look at a light installation showing the official logotype of the 2018 FIFA World Cup during its unveiling ceremony at the Bolshoi Theater building in Moscow, October 28, 2014. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Russia Eyes Use of Prison Labor to Prepare for World Cup twitter:description: Country hopes to keep costs down amid economic struggles twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3a47177f5823fc40/6988518c3c1639f34f4580c7/fifa-2018.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Russia Eyes Use of Prison Labor to Prepare for World Cup > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. ## Video: Vladimir Putin's Year in Review [Watch (HLS stream): Vladimir Putin's Year in Review](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/kIRZQPUV.m3u8) (3:46)  _Published 2014-12-10. From the annexation of Crimea to the crisis in Eastern Ukraine, this Person of the Year runner-up left an indelible mark on 2014_ by [Victor Luckerson](https://time.com/author/victor-luckerson/) ## Victor Luckerson May 25, 2015 8:34 PM UTC  Journalists look at a light installation showing the official logotype of the 2018 FIFA World Cup during its unveiling ceremony at the Bolshoi Theater building in Moscow, October 28, 2014. Journalists look at a light installation showing the official logotype of the 2018 FIFA World Cup during its unveiling ceremony at the Bolshoi Theater building in Moscow, October 28, 2014. Maxim Shemetov—Reuters by [Victor Luckerson](https://time.com/author/victor-luckerson/) ## Victor Luckerson May 25, 2015 8:34 PM UTC The Russian government [has proposed using prisoners](http://scores.nbcsports.msnbc.com/ifb/story.asp?i=20150525095158008388508&ref=rec&tm=&src=IFB) to help prepare for the 2018 World Cup. Alexander Khinshtein, a lawmaker, has gotten the backing of the Russian prison service to enlist some of the country’s prisoners in building projects related to the soccer tournament, the [Associated Press](http://scores.nbcsports.msnbc.com/ifb/story.asp?i=20150525095158008388508&ref=rec&tm=&src=IFB) reports. Such an initiative would help keep costs of the World Cup down, since Russia typically pays prisoners about $300 per month for labor projects. “It’ll help in the sense that there will be the opportunity to acquire building materials for a lower price,” Khinshtein told the AP. “And apart from that it’ll make it possible to get prisoners into work, which is very positive.” The total estimated budget for the 2018 World Cup is 638 billion rubles, or more than $12 billion. However, the Russian ruble has lost significant value against the dollar since the start of 2014 because of international sanctions imposed against the country and the falling price of oil. \[[_AP_](http://scores.nbcsports.msnbc.com/ifb/story.asp?i=20150525095158008388508&ref=rec&tm=&src=IFB)\] ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] With all the bad news that's been coming out of Russia this year. [ MUSIC ] It's easy to forget that President Vladimir Putin started 2014 by throwing the world an enormous party. [ MUSIC ] And had been Putin's idea to hold the Winter Olympics in a tropical town called Sochi and it took him almost seven years to prepare for this game. And not to mention a huge amount of money. And a lot of fake snow. But he pulled it off. And it looked amazing. Russia may never have seemed like a more inviting place. [ NOISE ] Only then things started to unravel. Two days before the closing ceremony of the Olympics, a revolution overthrew Putin's ally, Ukraine. And the new government quickly turned its back on Moscow and set out to join the European Union. Putin had reason to be furious. Ukraine was a key Russian ally and as diplomats are fond of saying, Russia with Ukraine is an empire, Russia without Ukraine is just a country. [ APPLAUSE ] [ MUSIC ] But Putin's reaction to the revolution came as a shock to even some of his closest allies. He sent his troops to occupy the Ukrainian region of Crimea, allowing pro Russian separatists to hold a vote for breaking away from Ukraine. Before the month of March was out, Putin had annexed Crimea outright and absorbed it into Russia. [ MUSIC ] Officials in the West were outraged. Many of them started talking of the new cold war. They have violated basic international law. And in the months that followed Western sanctions imposed against Russia have battered the economy. But they did not make Putin change course. The Russian backed rebellion only spread to the rest of southeast Ukraine. Throughout the spring and summer Russian weapons and volunteers flooded across the border to help the rebel militias and they soon set up a little protectorate in Moscow they called Novorossiya. Or New Russia. It was over the guise of this war zone that a commercial jet liner in July. The evidence made public by Western officials put the blame on rebels on Ukraine suggesting they hit the plane with a Russian missile system called a Buk apparently by the state. Nearly 300 people were killed in that catastrophe, most of them Europeans, dozens of them children. Many people believed the tragedy would make Putin back away from supporting the rebel militias, but he only increased that support. Russian tanks and soldiers, rather than just paramilitary volunteers. Were even spotted pouring into Ukraine in August to help the rebels fight off the Ukrainian army. From talking to officials in Moscow, one gets the impression that Putin never had a plan for any of this. Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. The war in east Ukraine has already claimed more than 4, 000 lives. More than a million people have been forced to flee their homes. And it's hard to imagine that Putin would have wanted such an outcome. He certainly wasn't planning it when he invited the world to Sochi for the Games. But his rash decisions in the course of this year helped bring about a string of tragedies. His country and a lot of eastern Europe. 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