The cities of Russia that have been chosen to host the World Cup in 2018 have to be united into a single high-speed railway communication network, RIA Novosti quotes Head of Russian Federation Government Vladimir Putin as saying.

‘I believe we need to come up with an improved high-speed railways development program, make sure the facilities get launched sooner, and provide some new routes as well. This also means the cities which will host the world football championship in 2018 have to be united into a single network,’ Vladimir Putin said.

The Prime Minister pointed out that high-speed trains were currently available to travel from Moscow to Saint Petersburg and back, from Moscow to Nizhniy Novgorod, and from Saint Petersburg to Helsinki.

Russia won the right to host the World Cup 2018 by an overwhelming majority of FIFA committee’s votes on December 2, 2010. Under the terms of Russia’s application, the championship games will be played in thirteen Russian cities: Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Kaliningrad, Kazan, Yaroslavl, Nizhniy Novgorod, Saransk, Samara, Volgograd, Yekaterinburg, Rostov-on-Don, Krasnodar, and Sochi.