Putin promises troubled World Cup stadium will be ready

MOSCOW (AP) Russian President Vladimir Putin has promised FIFA that a much-delayed stadium in St. Petersburg will be ready in time to host Confederations Cup and World Cup matches.

The 69,000-seat stadium in St. Petersburg has had repeated problems, including worker deaths, cost rises and technical issues. The field wobbles because of a poorly installed mechanism that allows it to slide in and out of the stadium.

At a meeting in the Kremlin, Putin told FIFA President Gianni Infantino ''it's a very lamentable story,'' but that ''the construction workers promise to fix everything by the end of this year.''

They were speaking a day ahead of the draw for next year's Confederations Cup. The final of that tournament is scheduled to be played in St. Petersburg.