Russians living near World Cup training bases are banned from using their balconies and spying on teams
Locals to sign legally-binding documents not to film training - and old houses are also being tarted up in huge makeover
RUSSIANS who live near World Cup training bases are being banned from using their balconies and filming training sessions.
Old houses are also being spray-painted as part of a massive Russian makeover.
In Kaliningrad - where England play next month - banners have been erected over the broken glass windows of a disused factory to “beautify” the city’s industrial dereliction.
They show “Provence-style windows”, complete with pink flowers.
But only on the front of the factory facing the road.
In Rostov-on-Don, posters now depict happy locals waving from windows of run-down buildings.
Locals in Gelendzhik, a Black Sea resort where Iceland and Sweden will have training facilities, are in shock after being ordered to sign legally binding pledges not to go on their balconies or “observe” from their windows.
The rules are similar to those imposed when President Vladimir Putin’s motorcade drives past.
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But one pensioner moaned: “We’re talking about the Iceland football team, not our president.
“I’ve been banned from going out on my balcony for a cigarette.”
In Gelendzhik, residents were told “it will be strictly prohibited to film team members, including during the training sessions, to go out to the balconies (and) to observe (those connected with a World Cup team).
In Rostov, officials have admitted putting up 250 banners on shabby buildings.
Vitaly Kushnaryov, the head of Rostov city administration, said: “The historical centre of the city is full of ruined and rundown buildings. We have to work hard before the World Cup.”
In Ekaterinburg, an old jail was given a makeover and barbed wire removed.
