Sochi Olympics budget slashed for 2009

The budget for the state company overseeing much of the construction work for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi will be cut by two-thirds this year, a top Russian official said Tuesday.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, urged companies to honor their commitments in Sochi and organizers announced a $180 million top-tier sponsorship deal with state oil company Rosneft.

This year's budget for the Olympstroi company originally was set at nearly 50 billion rubles but now will be cut by 33 billion regional development minister Viktor Basargin said in a a meeting with Putin's council on sports. Basargin also said that some of the funds cut this year would be compensated for by money that had been budgeted in the past two years but not used. Olympstroi's CEO said 12 billion rubles from the last year's budget was not spent.

MOSCOW, AP