Russia trims World Cup budget again, cuts $2.4 million

MOSCOW — Russia has again cut its budget for the 2018 World Cup, in part by abandoning plans to build a new TV tower.

A Russian government order published Wednesday removes 151.4 million rubles ($2.38 million) from the budget in the third round of cost-saving this year. That leaves the budget at 631.3 billion rubles ($9.92 billion).

The latest savings seem to come mostly from abandoning plans for a 240-meter tall TV tower in the host city of Samara.

The Russian government is curbing most areas of public spending as the economy contracts due to the low oil price.

In June, Russia cut 29.2 billion rubles ($459 million) from the World Cup budget, cancelling plans for several hotels.