Russia to spend $7.7 million on sports centres in Crimea

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Russian government is to build two sports centres in Crimea as the country looks to increase its influence in the peninsula which it annexed last year.

Russian Minister for Sport Vitaly Mutko said the centres would act as warm weather training complexes for elite Russian athletes.

"This year with have allocated around 400 million Roubles ($7.7 million / £5.1 million) to build to state sporting centres," Mutko told the TASS news agency.

"I want to choose those centres, which will be important and necessary for our sports teams, but also those, which will create the correct conditions for our sportsmen and women as Crimea experiences various weather conditions," he added.

Russia is trying to improve its popularity in Crimea ad the government has invested heavily in the region.

Mutko has tried to incorporate Crimea football teams under the banner of the Russian Football Union, but UEFA blocked the move after protests from the Ukrainian Football Federation.

A number of the world's biggest sporting federations have not recognised Russia's takeover of Crimea, including FIFA and UEFA.

($1 = 51.8950 Russian Roubles)

(Reporting by Dimitriy Rogovitskiy, Editing by Ed Osmond)